26 MOSQUITOES 



culture, iu Aug-ust, 1900. It Wiis there stated that by 

 means of railway trains unlimited quantities of mosqui- 

 toes are carried unlimited distances, and on emergin^: 

 from the cars they start to breed, even where mosquitoes 

 are ordinarily rare, or would be rare under ordinary con- 

 ditions. In this way, even mountain-resorts were said to 

 get their supply of lowland mosquitoes, and the con- 

 stantly^ increasing danger of this method of distribution, 

 through the perfection of the railway service and the in- 

 crease in the number of through cars, was pointed out. 

 It was shown that although the State of New Jersey, as 

 an example, has a bad moscpiito rei)utati(ni, that does not 

 necessarily mean that there are any more breeding-places 

 in the interior of the State, or that New Jersey mosqui- 

 toes are any more prolific than elsewhere. The constant 

 abundance of mosquitoes in New Jersey seemed to the 

 writer to be dependent upon the fact that the coast is 

 lined by many swamps, and that all through the summer 

 evenings many trains are started inland from nearly a 

 dozen points on the coast, from "Weehawken to Cape 

 May. These trains may contain mosquitoes by the hun- 

 dreds, and at every stop they may Hy from the cars and 

 seek breeding-places near the railway. 



A discouraging feature of this method of spread is that 

 although exterminative work of the most thorough char- 

 acter may be carried on in any locality near a railroad, 

 new supplies of mosquitoes are constantly being brought 

 in and will begin to breed wherever water can be found. 

 I called attention to the fact that in tlu^ Catskill Moun- 

 tains one place which had come under my observation 



