PREFACE 



WITHIN recent years, so much has been writ- 

 ten about mosquitoes, and scattered through 

 such a vast number of books and periodicals, that 

 the average student now sorely feels the need of a 

 single work, containing, in a condensed form, the 

 essential facts so far made known in regard to the 

 different phases of this important and highly inter- 

 esting subject. It was to meet the demands of the 

 constantly increasing army of both professional and 

 lay workers that the present volume was designed. 

 While aiming to keep it within reasonable bounds, 

 that it might be easily used alike in the field and in 

 the laboratory, still it is believed that no portion of 

 the work has been slighted, or fundamental infor- 

 mation omitted, in the endeavour to carry this desire 

 into effect. 



It has been the constant aim of the author to 

 give, in as succinct a form as possible, both what 

 has been set forth by others and what new facts 

 have been ascertained by Dr. Dupree and herself 

 regarding the lives of these pestiferous creatures in 

 this country — how and where they breed, how they 

 bite, how they transmit disease, how long and on 

 what they live, how they may be identified in their 

 various stages, and finally, but not the least import- 

 ant how they may be locally controlled. The au- 



