144 DRAGON FLIE^ VS. MOSQUITOES. 



largely to the dragon fly's appetite. This deadly war, 

 waged in its perfect estate upon the perfect form of mos- 

 quito, is only a continuation of the habit of larval life. 

 Like the mosquito, the mother dragon fly oviposits in the 

 water, and its young are reared under similar conditions. 

 The dragon fly larva is as voracious as the imago, and 

 destroys enormous numbers of the aquatic larvse of other 

 insects, including, of course, the larvae and pupse of mos- 

 quitoes. Thus it comes about that in both stages of their 

 development dragon flies are the natural enemies of the 

 mosquito in both stages of its life. 



Now emerges the query, can this "mosquito hawk" be 

 propagated in such numbers, in regions most frequented 

 by the mosquito, as materially to contribute to the mitiga- 

 tion of the pest ? The question is one that can only be 

 answered by experiment, and certainly the interests in- 

 volved to both human property and human comfort are 

 sufficient to justify the undertaking. There appears to 

 be no difficulty in rearing the aquatic larvse and pupae of 

 dragon flies in artificial conditions. An ordinary aquari- 

 um, a good sized jar, or a glass tumbler will suffice for a 

 successful experiment. The matter which needs most to 

 be attended to in such primitive undertakings is to sepa- 

 rate the more ferocious forms from the less. 



Dr. Lamborn's olfer of a prize for a paper upon the 

 methods of propagating di*agon flies is intended simply as 

 a preliminary step. If the inquiry should develop facts 

 that seem sufficient to justify further experiments and re- 

 searches, no doubt there will be money enough forthcom- 

 ing to enter upon this larger undertaking. In the mean- 

 time let us encourage the endeavor. It can certainly do 

 no harm. It will, beyond doubt, develop many interest- 



