A. E. Verrill — The Bermuda Islands. 511 



been, in at least three of those years, great scarcity of food and more 

 or less famine, when large numbers of the most worthless of the 

 vicious people sent out in 1613 had died miserably. (See ch. 23, d.) 



The ordinary diseases are essentially similar to those in the eastern 

 United States. 



Malaria is said to be unknown in the Bermudas, and it is not yet 

 known whether the malaria-carrying mosquito {Anopheles) occurs 

 there or not, though certain species of Crdex are sufficiently abundant 

 in summer.* But typhoid fever is not uncommon. 



Dr. Christopher Harvey, Staff-surgeon of the Royal Navy, writing 

 in 1890 (British Medical Journal for 1890, pt. ii, p. 11*72), says that 

 " the records of the Naval Hospital indisputably prove that remit- 

 tent fever does not occur in the islands," and that of all cases of 

 intermittent fever, not one was contracted on the islands. 



In former years there have been several very severe epidemics of 

 yellow fever, introduced from the West Indies, and first appearing 

 among the sailors and soldiers. 



It is probable, therefore, that the small mosquito that is believed 

 to convey the yellow fever microbe is either native of the Bermudas, 

 or else it was introduced there at each time of the epidemics, which 

 could easily have happened. Once there, the abundant open cisterns 

 , of rain water would have afforded it ideal places for breeding and 

 propagating the disease. 



It would be of great importance to the inhabitants if they could be 

 induced to take intelligent pains to suppress the mosquito nuisance. 

 Much could be done by more thoroughly covering the openings of 

 their cisterns, using wire gauze over the necessary openings ; by 

 introducing gold fishes or other small carnivorous fishes to devour 

 the larva? in cisterns or other bodies of water that cannot be drained 

 off, or that are used for cattle ; and by the use of kerosene or other 

 coal oils on the surface of brackish pools, not used for cattle, where 

 it could do no harm, but would effectually destroy the mosquito 

 larvae, if applied every fortnight, during the mosquito season. 



Many of the small, stagnant, and brackish pools and bogs should 

 be filled up, for some mosquitoes prefer brackish waters for breeding 

 purposes. 



In the spring months, when we were there, mosquitoes were not 

 common, but they are said to be very troublesome in summer, which 



* Mr. F. V. Theobald, in his extensive Monograph of the Culicidae of the 

 World, recently published by the British Museum, records no other genus of 

 mosquitoes from Bermuda, except Culex. He had examined a lot of 59 speci- 

 mens sent by Governor Barker, in 1897 (coll. 21, vol. ii, p. 358). He did not 

 determine the species ; probably the specimens were too poor. 



