254 



THE MOSQUITOES OF NEW JERSEY 



Fig. lxxxii. Top minnow. Gambusia affinis Baird and Girard. 



fish which are the products of the previous year and which will not lay 

 eggs until toward the end of the season. 



The eggs of the common killy fall to the muddy bottom and then 

 undergo development. In about three weeks the eggs complete develop- 

 ment and the young fry hatch. From the time it is large enough the com- 

 mon killy feeds voraciously on mosquito wrigglers whenever it can get 

 them. A single medium-sized fish will consume as many as fifty wrigglers 

 a day. 



In fresh water the minnows of game fish and various small fishes, 

 such as the sunfish (Lepomis sp.) and top minnow (Gambusia sp.) are 

 as effective against mosquito larvae as the killifish in salt and brackish 

 water. 



Whether in salt or fresh water marsh grasses and aquatic plants 

 grow abundantly and frequently form a screen behind which mosquito 



