266 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 7 



to occasion complaint. By means of a large number of night collec- 

 tions, made at the same hour, in the same fashion and in as nearly 

 similar localities as the nature of the topography would permit, a 

 zone of mosquitoes was traced from the Ebling meadows through South 

 Newark into North Elizabeth, a distance of 2.5 miles. 



Briefly stated, the proof of the Culex pipiens spreading from a 

 heavy breeding area is: (1) A concentration of the species in a definite 

 locality some distance from the breeding place; (2) absence of sufficient 

 local breeding to explain the infestation; (3) the discovery of a zone 

 of mosciuito infestation from the great breeding place to point infested. 



Soon after the house mosquito makes its appearance the malarial 

 species develops and continues in increasing numbers throughout 

 the breeding season. 



For many years various civic bodies and associations made inter- 

 mittent efforts at mosquito control, but it was not until the creation 

 of the county mosquito extermination commissions that a really 

 efficient local agency for mosquito work came into existence. The 

 failure of other local agencies was due to the fact that mosquito control 

 was onl}^ one of their objects and that they were willing to neglect it 

 for something which, at the time, appeared to be of greater importance. 



The county mosquito extermination commission act is an admirable 

 attempt to unite in a practical fashion the local and state anti-mosquito 

 agencies and is well calculated to secure men of proper caliber as 

 commissioners. Under its provisions the supreme court judge pre- 

 siding over the courts of each county is compelled to appoint a 

 commission of six men, three of whom shall have been at some time 

 connected with board of health work. These commissioners must 

 serve without pay and each commission is charged with the duty of 

 preparing annually a statement of plans and methods for controlling 

 the mosquitoes within the limits of their counties and an estimate 

 of the expense necessary thereto. 



The director of the New Jersey Experiment Station is ex-officio 

 member of each commission and must pass annually on each state- 

 ment of plans, methods and financial estimates submitted. The 

 director has power to modify this statement as he sees fit, but is under 

 obligation on or before a specified date to forward the approved 

 statement to the board of chosen freeholders of the county from which 

 it came. On the receipt of this statement by the board of freeholders 

 it becomes obligated to make the appropriation. 



So far as the writer's experience goes, and he has become personally 

 acquainted with all the commissions that have exhibited a desire to 

 do something, the supreme justices have appointed a very capable 

 and public-spirited body of men. Very wisely the commissions, in 



