24 Proceedings of the First Convention 



that mosquitoes can be as completely exterminated in any 

 locality as dirt can be swept from a building, or as weeds from 

 a walk, with the possible exception of the Culex Sollicitans, 

 and with the exercise of no more intelligence and much less 

 labor than is required in the performance of many domestic 

 duties. My experience would lead me to conclude that if 

 mosquitoes continue to exist in any locality, it is because the 

 people are too indififerent to the annoyance to take the trouble 

 to be rid of it. 



Chairman : We will now pass back from Long Island 

 to New Jersey again, and call upon Mr. John Claflin, President 

 of The H. B. Claflin Co., New York. Mr. Claflin is President 

 of the Morristown, N. J,, Improvement Society. He may not 

 be known in this community by that title, but he is known by 

 a great many others. 



REHARKS ON EXTERniNATION WORK AT 

 nORRISTOWN, N. J. 



Mr. John Claflin. 



I have no paper to read and I have not prepared any speech. 

 Before I say what I have in mind, which may possibly interest 

 you as to my practical experience, I would like to ask Mr. 

 Matheson, if I may, a question regarding the wells and cisterns 

 in which he found mosquitoes breeding, Were they covered? 



Mr. Matheson : The only well I spoke of was one that 

 had been dug by some former occupant there ; it was i lo feet 

 deep to surface of water probably, 4 feet in diameter, and we 

 were surprised to find, after drawing a bucketful one day in 

 July or August, something that looked like mosquito larvae. 

 We carefully screened the water for we found this same con- 

 dition often. The temperature of the water was 56, while the 

 air temperature was 80. The larvae we intended to save to 

 breed from, but- the difference in temperature seemed to affect 

 them, and they all died within a few hours. 



Mr. Claflin: Did you observe what kind they were? 



Mr. Matheson : We couldn't tell, they perished so soon. 



