15 



it is undoubtedly true thatniosiiuitoes are very abundant inmost parts 

 of the State, that fact does not mean to the Avriter that in the greater 

 part of the State there are any more breeding spaces or that mosqui- 

 toes are any more prolific within the State borders than elsewhere. 

 It does, however, seem to him that there is constant carriage inland 

 from the marshy seacoast of very many mosquitoes, but by this he 

 does not intend to convey the idea that they are carried by wind or 

 that they fiy to any great distance inland. There are other means of 

 conveyance, and of these railwa}^ trains seem to be very important. 

 All through the summer evenings many trains arc started inland from 

 Weehawken, Hoboken, Jersey City, South Amboy, Long Branch, 

 Atlantic City, Ocean City, and Cape May, N. J. Many of the cars, as 

 the writer knows from experience, contain mosquitoes by the hun- 

 dreds. In this way unlimited quantities of mosquitoes are carried 

 unlimited distances, and, emerging from the cars, will start to breed 

 even in localities where mosquitoes are ordinarily rare, or would be 

 rare under ordinar}' conditions. In this way even luountain resorts 

 will get their supply of lowland mosquitoes, and with the improve- 

 ment of railwa}'^ service and the increase in number of through cars 

 the danger is constantly increasing. The writer knows of one instance 

 in the Catskill Mountains in New York where the infestation of a pre- 

 viously uninfested place coidd have been brought about in no other 

 way. Through parlor and through baggage cars now run from Jersey 

 City and Weehawken into the heart of the Catskills and through trains 

 from Boston into the White Mountains. 



In the same way through cars run from Baltimore into the Blue 

 Ridge, and thus a constant source of supply may be, and undoubtedly 

 is, kept up. 



Hoio long can the Jarv(P live md of waterf — At the meeting of the 

 Association of Economic Entomologists above referred to, Dr. Smith 

 asked if it were possible for mosquitoes to breed in mud, and sug- 

 gested that there was no reason to believe that the actual presence of 

 water was necessary for all mosquito species. The writer has seen a 

 statement from some Californian, which he is unable to place at the 

 present time, to the efiect that there is a prevalent belief in some parts 

 of the United States that when a surface pool dries up half -grown 

 larvai may exist in th(^ drying mud for some time, reviving with a 

 fresh rain. Mr. C. A. Sperry, of Chicago, wrote us early in 1899 

 and advanced the same theory. He said that experiments made in 

 small vessels had always been very unsatisfactory to him, and that he 

 abandoned that method and sought the natural breeding places for 

 investigation and experiment. Earh' in July he found a wet- weather 

 pond with mosquito larviB in it, the pond being nearly dry. In a few- 

 days the water was all gone. He examined closely and discovered no 

 dead larvte. In about a week it rained, and as soon as the rain 



