CHAPTER VIII 



MOSQUITO REMEDIES AND ENEMIES 



REMEDIES may be treated under two heads: 

 local, when in reference to a single house or a 

 small number of dwellings ; and general, when in ref- 

 erence to a very large area. Dr. Howard and Dr. 

 Smith have gone thoroughly into this subject, and 

 it is from the latter that many of the observations in 

 this section are taken. 



Local Remedies. — If your house is infested, the 

 best thing to do is to find out what sort of mosquitoes 

 they are, then you will know where they are apt to 

 be breeding. Next, if they are from a distant salt 

 marsh, you will have to screen. If not, find their 

 breeding place. If it is water standing in a recepta- 

 cle that can be dumped, dump it ; if it is a puddle 

 that can be filled by a few barrels or even a cart- 

 load of earth, fill it ; if that chances to be impossible, 

 oil it. An ounce of cheap kerosene or fuel oil, ap- 

 plied carefully with a spray or otherwise, will cover 

 fifteen square feet of surface, and, if not in a place 

 exposed to currents of wind, will last for several days, 

 trapping the adults that come to deposit, as well as 

 suffocating the larvae and pupae by entering their 

 breathing tubes when they rise to the surface. All 

 bodies of standing water which cannot be drained, 



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