138 DRAGON FLIES VS. MOSQUITOES. 



"her." It is the female mosquito that docs all the dam- 

 age ! Her spouse is a harmless creature. Without claim- 

 ing any knowledge as a specialist of these very interesting 

 but disagreeable insects, I may offer a few suggestions in- 

 tended to encourage public sympathy and cooperation with 

 an enterprise which may seem to many chimerical. Cer- 

 tainly nothing is ever done by attempting nothing; and if 

 we wish to rid ourselves of what is an undoubted pest in 

 certain localities, w^e must at least "make an effort." Suc- 

 cess in limiting the number of mosquitoes pivots upon two 

 points : Hostile Environment and Natural Enemies. 



I. 



"Where the conditions are favorable for propagation and 

 growth, the mosquito, like other creatures, will iiourish. 

 If those conditions can be made unfavorable, the insect 

 must decrease. This compels us to ask, what are favora- 

 ble conditions for the mosquito's development ? 



The question is easier asked than accurately answered. 

 In point of fact, the mosquito has a cosmopolitan distri- 

 bution. It is supposed to have its paradise in tropical 

 countries, but it flourishes in Labrador. It affects low 

 lying positions, but lovers of the Adirondack Mountains 

 will recall visions of " smudges," and cheese cloth canopies 

 on rustic bunks, and battles with swarms of Culicidre amid 

 the soughing of pines and the sweet fragrance of the bal- 

 sam. It loves the interior, and many a veteran may recall 

 the days when he hunted prairie chickens on the plains of 

 Illinois with mosquito netting twisted around his hat and 

 face ; yet it is said, though good testimony could be drawn 

 to the contrary, that "a few" mosquitoes have habitat 

 along the seashore of New Jersey ! But, wherever found, 



