66 • ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO. 



" (3) To allow ground squirrels, moles, and other natural enemies to carry on their 

 work unmolested, and in case their multiplication affects surrounding crops to adopt 

 means of protecting such crops without destroying these animals. If in localities where 

 fertilizers may be used with profit, to adopt the use of such kinds as nay have insecticidal 

 properties." 



The paper was discussed by Mr. Hopkins. 



The next paper, by Mr. Howard, was entitled " Notes on Methods of Studying che 

 Life-histories of Injurious Insects," in which he described the vivarium methods in use in 

 the Division of Entomology of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, but insisted that out- 

 door work is preferable where feasible. The question of methods of ventilation of the in- 

 sectary and kindred topics were discussed by Messrs. Forbes, Garman and Howard. Mr. 

 Forbes thought that in-door work on life-histories should always be verified by out-door 

 observation. 



Under the caption, " Another Mosquito Experiment," Mr. Howard detailed as fol- 

 lows his experience, with the use of kerosene on the surface of mosquito-breeding pools, 

 since his announcement of his first experiment a year ago. 



ANOTHER MOSQUITO EXPERIMENT. 



By L. 0. Howard, Washington, D.C. 



Just as " one swallow does not make a summer," one experiment does not fully satisfy 

 the economic entomologist of the value of a remedy. At the last meeting of this associa- 

 tion I laid before you the facts concerning an experiment in applying kerosene oil to the 

 surface of a mosquito-breeding pool and argued from its results that in many localities 

 where the breeding places are circumscribed, the mosquito plague may be largely averted. 



The publication of this paper excited considerable interest in the subject and brought 

 me some little correspondence from individuals who considered themselves advantageously 

 located for the testing of the remedy on a larger scale than I had been able to attempt. 

 Dr. Wooster Beach, of New York City, wrote last fail that it appeared to him quite 

 possible to treat large tracks of land in the manner proposed, and solicited Government 

 aid in locating breeding places in Westchester County along Long Island Sound, provided 

 he ould interest property holders and raise a small fund to be expended in the purchase 

 of kerosene and the wages of men to a])ply it under expert supervision. The necessary 

 aid was promised him, with Dr. Riley's sanction, and he made a strong effort to arouse 

 the popular interest by articles in the local papers ; bat either through nonsusceptibility 

 to mosquito poison on the part of his neighbors, or through indifference arising from other 

 causes, he failed to collect the fund, and an interesting experiment on a large scale was 

 thwarted. 



Another very satisfactory experiment upon a small scale, 'however, has been made 

 the present season. But before recounting the facts in the case I must advert to the 

 chronic disinclination on the part of the property holders of a given neighborhood to ad- 

 mit that they are troubled by mosquitoes. I spoke in Insect Life last fall of a New Jersey 

 mosquito remedy, recounting the killing by its means of seventy-five mosquitoes on the 

 ceilinc of my room in a New Jersey town, the name of which I thoughtlessly published. 

 By the next mail, after the issue had reached that part of the country, I received letters 

 from two residents of the town warning me that I would be mobbed by the inhabitants if I 

 ever set foot in the place again, that is, provided my note should happen to be re-pub- 

 lished in some more widely read journal than Insect Life. New Jersey and mosquitoes 

 had been coupled in my mind .since earliest boyhood, and I was totally unprepared to 

 learn that our cultivated and refined neighbors were sensitive on the point. 



