LIFE HISTOEY AND SEASONAL PEEVALENCE 147 



no others than the two species mentioned as still present 

 in January could be found, and it is again not until April 

 that any were observed by my friend, Mr. Royle, who then 

 found them again in evidence in Shahjahanpur. 



Such is roughly the seasonal prevalence of the family in 

 the Province to which my own observations have been 

 almost confined, but those who are not familiar with the 

 wide range of climatic conditions found within the peninsula 

 must not be misled into supposing that the account can be 

 accepted for the entire country, or that it is even typical 

 of any large proportion of its area. In illustration of this, 

 I quote a further extract from Mr. Aitken's paper and a 

 few of the replies published in the Indian Medical Gazette, 

 in response to a circular of queries issued by Major 

 Buchanan, I.M.S., the editor of that journal. Mr. Aitken 

 says : "In the first place, you will note that I have found 

 Anopheles larvae in every month of the year, except 

 February, when I did not look for them. But I had 

 plenty in captivity during that month, which I had brought 

 home in January. So it appears that, in a place with a 

 moist climate, in which there is always some water to 

 be found. Mosquitoes can survive without hybernation and 

 may be found at all seasons. But as with other insects 

 generally in this Presidency, the time when they are most 

 abundant is the close of the rains." 



Captain Giffard, I.M.S., notes that on the Coromandel 

 coast the malaria-bearing Mosquitoes were extraordinarily 

 prevalent, even at the end of the cold season, and existed 

 in thousands in every pool, well, and casuarina pool 

 examined. 



Captain Cornwall, I. M.S., states that in Madras, Mosqui- 

 toes are never entirely absent, but they are most common, 

 when a sufficiency of water is lying about, i.e., in January, 

 February and March, after the rains. They decrease in 

 the hot weather and increase again in the showery months 

 of July, August and September. In the last three months 

 of the year, when the heavy rains have swamped the 

 breeding places, the Mosquitoes, both adult and larval, are 

 most difficult to find. 



