April, '12] JENNINGS: MOSQUITO CONTROL IN TROPICS 137 



characteristics will throw many obstacles in the way of phj'sician and 

 sanitary inspector. It is interesting to note that the employee popu- 

 lation of the Canal Zone is highly cosmopolitan and includes repre- 

 sentatives of more than twenty nationalites. A large part of the 

 manual work is performed by West Indian negroes, while a large 

 minority of the laborers are Spaniards from old Spain, some Itahans 

 and a few Greeks. Few native Panamanians are employed, as they 

 do not take kindly to severe manual labor and usually prove rather 

 inefficient. 



Of the laborers living in Commission quarters, the West Indians as 

 a whole give probably the least trouble in the enforcement of sanitary 

 regulations, owing in part to their submissiveness to recognized author- 

 ity and their habits, having been taught by experience the danger of 

 exposure to the "night air" or rather the inhabitants thereof. The 

 Europeans from non-malarious countries, however, are restive under 

 restraint and freely expose themselves, during nightly wanderings and 

 otherwise, to malarial infection. Both classes have during late years 

 shown a strong propensity to "go to the bush" and, squatting upon 

 a patch of land, usually beyond the area of control work, build a 

 shack, of course unscreened, and live, working intermittently for the 

 Commission, exposed to all the unwholesome influences the country 

 has to offer. 



In the work directed against Stegomyia and house mosquitoes the 

 inhabitants of the so-called "native towns," populated largely by 

 ex-employees and intermittent workers, are through ignorant care- 

 lessness the cause of much trouble to the sanitary force and their 

 premises require constant inspection. It is difficult to convince the 

 average "Jamaica lady" or her spouse that the presence of a tin full 

 of water and "wrigglers" upon their back porch is anything more 

 than a venial sin. Innumerable and ingenious excuses are offered but 

 often arrest and fine are the only means to effect reform. 



No less important than the anti-malarial work but of a radically 

 different character, Stegomyia eradication is merely a matter of 

 painstaking, conscientious and thorough inspection of premises and 

 their contents, the destruction of useless containers, efficient screening 

 of water barrels and cisterns, and oiling of such receptacles as cannot 

 be otherwise protected. If yellow fever be present, the fumigation 

 of houses for mosquito destruction is also necessary. The measures 

 directed against Stegomyia of course control the other, and next 

 important house mosquito, Culex quinqiiefasciatus, and in practical 

 work no distinction is made between them. The presence of "mos- 

 quito larvae" of any species is sufficient cause for reprimand or fine as 

 the case may be. 



