162 MOSQUirOES 



larvfe, that containing- tlio tisU had no hiiva'. Mr. E. A. 

 Schwarz informs me that in Beeville, Tex., a little tish 

 which is known locally as a perch is i)ut into rain-water 

 tanks for this express purpose. 



There occur on many large estates in the northeast and 

 elsewhere, ponds which are used for Avatering stock. 

 These are sometimes artiticial ponds built with rock 

 bottoms to prevent the exit of the water. They cannot 

 be drained, and on account of their purpose they cannot 

 be treated with kerosene. Into such ponds should be 

 introduced a plentiful siipply of top-minnows or some 

 other voracious mosquito-eating fish. 



In a later conversation with Mr. Seal, he told me that the 

 top-minnow was suggested because it is a top-feeder, and 

 being very small and slender, it penetrates to the remot- 

 est shallows of the waters which it may inhabit, especially 

 where plants abound and where larvae of mosquitoes are 

 sure to be found. On second thought, he was inclined to 

 think, however, that for general purposes the common 

 little flat suntish, or " pumpkin-seed " as it is sometimes 

 called, would be a good fish to introduce into fishless 

 ponds. It grows much larger, of course, but is very pro- 

 lific, and the young do not make a very great growth in a 

 year, so that the young of each year remain compara- 

 tively small, say from three -fourths of an inch to a half- 

 iuch, until the young of the following year would be 

 ready for business, which would be by July 1st. The top- 

 minnow, he says, being a soft-rayed fish, becomes the 

 easy prey of larger fishes introduced into the same 

 waters, but the suntish, being protected by spiue-rayed 



