134 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



MOSQUITOES AND OTHER INSECTS OF THE YEAR 1902. 



R. H. PETTIT, B. S., ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Bulletin No. 204. 



The present bulletin is a short, popular resume or abstract of Special 

 Bulletin Number 17. The larger bulletin is more technical in its nature, 

 and contains much of little interest to the general reader. It will, how- 

 ever, gladly be sent to anybody who desires it. 



The entomologist is, at all times, glad to answer any questions within 

 his knowledge, relating to insects, their work, or their control. It is 

 always best to enclose a part of the insect or of its work. In the case 

 of scale-insects, it is best to send a good-sized sample, as it usually is 

 necessary "to have a full-grown female in good condition for a correct 

 determination. Send as many insects as practicable in any case. 

 Send them in a tight tin \?ox if convenient, and always feel free to send 

 and to ask questions. In this way we are often able to render timely aid 

 and to find out what pests are causing the most trouble, and which 

 consequently may demand the most attention and the strongest efforts. 



MOSQUITOES. 



The interest which recently has been awakened in relation to the 

 subject of mosquitoes and their relation to the spread of disease, has 

 induced the writer to carry on an experiment bearing on the control 

 of these insects. The objects of this experiment were to test oil and fish 

 as mosquito destroyers; to find out as much as possible about the kinds 

 or species with which we have to deal; to find where they breed in the 

 vicinity of the College, and to gain some idea as to the range necessary 

 to be treated in order to protect a given locality in our State. 



We are indebted to Dr. L. O. Howard for starting and maintaining 

 experiments some years ago in relation to this matter, and for awak- 

 ening popular interest in relation to mosquito control and consequent 

 immunity from several diseases. It is now a generally accepted belief 

 that malaria, or fever-and-ague, is due to a germ, or more strictly 

 speaking, to a low form of animal life which lives in the corpuscles of 

 the blood in man and which is introduced there by certain mosquitoes 

 of the genus Anopheles; the mosquitoes in turn obtaining the germs 

 with the blood of their victims, of course providing they bite some one 

 suffering from the disease. In other words then, the mosquito serves 

 as a carrier of ague germs from a diseased person to one in health. 

 Furthermore, the germs are said to undergo certain changes in the 

 body of the mosquito, which changes may indicate the necessity of the 

 mosquito, to a prolonged life in the case of the germ. Further, it is 

 believed that yellow fever is spread by another mosquito which, fortu- 

 nately, is not found as far north as Michigan. 



The fact that mosquitoes are nuisances in every sense of the word, 

 would seem to offer suflQcient reason for exciting our interest, but the 

 fact that they actually are a menace to health makes the question one 

 of prime importance. 



The life-history of the common Culex, a genus of non-malarial mos- 

 quitoes, is as follows : The eggs are laid in raft-like masses, on the sur- 



