234 MOSQUITOES OF NORTH AMERICA 



days abounded in morasses and deep pools, amongst whose rushes the lapwings 

 had their haunt, the whole population was every year stricken more or less with 

 the trouble, until the days came when drainage dried the soil, and ague and 

 lapwings disappeared.' 



" In England it was once very prevalent. James I. died of ' a tertian ague ' 

 at Theobalds, near London, and Cromwell succumbed at Whitehall to a ' bastard 

 tertian ague' in 1658, a year in which malaria was very widely spread and very 

 malignant ; and it is only within recent memory that the fen districts in Cam- 

 bridgeshire and Lincolnshire, Eomney Marsh in Kent, and the marshy districts 

 of Somerset, have lost their evil reputation for ague. The older chemists in the 

 towns in the fen districts still recall the lucrative trade their fathers carried on 

 in opium and preparations of quinine with the f enmen during the first half of 

 last century ; but with the improved drainage of the fens this has all disappeared, 

 and at present cases of endemic malaria appear to be unknown in England, 

 though sporadic cases turn up at rare intervals. It was also very prevalent along 

 the estuary of the Thames, both on the Essex and Kentish marshes. Pip in 

 * Great Expectations ' says to his convict : 



" ' I think you have got the ague.' ' I'm much of your opinion, boy,' said he. 

 ' It's bad about here,' I told him. ' You've been lying out on the meshes, and 

 they^re dreadful aguish.' 



" Ireland, which appears at first sight peculiarly adapted for the disease, seems 

 to have been remarkably free from it. It may be that the strong antiseptic 

 quality of the peaty bog-water hinders the development of the larval mosquito." * 



According to Hirsch malaria in Europe extends northward to between 63° 

 and 69° north latitude. In the western hemisphere it is rarely found above 45° 

 north latitude. It is most common and severe in low-lying coast regions and 

 the deltas of large rivers, the rivers of tropical countries especially, are hot-beds ; 

 and this is true also of all bodies of water in such localities. As we approach the 

 equator we meet more rarely with the milder f onus and more frequently with 

 the severe and often fatal gestivo-autumnal variety. Craig gives a more detailed 

 consideration to America than does Shipley, and his paragraphs on North and 

 South America, Asia, and Africa are quoted : 



"North America. — In North America, malaria occurs rarely above the forty- 

 fifth parallel, but is often frequent and fatal in the Southern states and in the 

 West Indies, especially in Cuba, as well as in Central America. In the New 

 England and Middle Atlantic states the benign forms are present, but are 

 comparatively rare. The severe forms prevail along the low regions of the south- 

 ern coast line, and especially in the swampy regions of the Gulf states. These 

 infections are common and severe along the Mississippi River and its southern 

 branches, and they are present in many of the Western states, especially in the 

 river valleys of California where severe and fatal sestivo-autumnal infections are 

 not uncommon. The regions about the Great Lakes are almost free from malaria 

 except in certain localities about Lake Michigan. Canada is the only countiy in 

 North America which appears to be almost entirely free from malaria. 



" South America. — In South America, severe types of the disease are common, 

 especially along the coast regions of Colombia, Venezuela, Guiana, Brazil, 

 Eucador, Peru and Chile. The whole Atlantic coast line of Central America is 

 severely infected with aestivo-autumnal malaria, and in this region the most 

 pernicious forms are common. 



* Anopheles is prevalent in parts of Ireland. It is worthy of remark that as early as 1828 

 Hallday, in his paper entitled "On some insects taken in the north of Ireland" (ZooloRical 

 Journal, iii, 1828, pp. 500-504), states that A. macnlipennis occurs in profusion in the neighbor- 

 hood of Belfast throughout the summer and autumn. — H., D. and K. 



