REPORT ON MOSQUITOES. 377 



At the May meeting of the Board of Education, Commissioner Coleman 

 ■offered a resolution, which was unanimously adopted, asking me to address 

 the public school teachers upon the subject, and directing the principals to 

 see that each child in his or her school was given simple instructions to 

 enable it to find and destroy all mosquitoes that might be found breeding upon 

 his home premises, or the immediate vicinity. 



With this impetus to the cause and the frequent and cordial support of 

 the press, especially that of the BUsaheth Daily Journal, I began work at 

 once to form a brigade for active work. It was not my intention at first 

 to do more than start several men to oiling the stagnant pools lying within 

 the city, and found to be infested with the lai'vje, or wrigglers, of mos- 

 quitoes, but as the investigations and experiments proceeded they grew to 

 such proportions that I found them absorbing every moment I could spare 

 from my other duties during May and June and most of the summer vaca- 

 tion. 



WHAT WAS DONE. 



Unfortunately, many of our people thought the brigade was attempting 

 the immediate extermination of the mosquito, notwithstanding the frequent 

 statements made in the press that but little immediate relief could be ex- 

 pected until the whole problem, covering not only the stagnant pools in and 

 around the city, but also that vast area lying along the Sound, was thor- 

 oughly studied. This study has been made by the brigade within our city, 

 and most extensively and proficiently by Dr. John B. Smith, State Entomol- 

 ogist, in all the salt meadows lying within our immediate vicinity, and we 

 can now say with a degree of confidence that we scarcely hoped for at the 

 outstart that relief from the mosquito pest for this community is certainly 

 in sight, if the proper officials are authorized, during another season, to 

 execute the plans and suggestions herein to follow in this report. 



Our local study has consisted of experiments with four different oils on 

 the smaller pools and street sewer-basins ; the placing of small fish in per- 

 manent pools and, through the aid of Health Officer Richards, the draining 

 of several useless and dangerous sheets of water. 



A microscopical specimen of each species found in the larval stage was 

 prepared and will be preserved for the purpose of identificaton by those 

 who may continue this work in the future. It is very essential that each 

 species should be identified as soon as it appears ir season, so that intelli- 

 gent treatment may be directed toward its destruction, if known to be of the 

 noxious type. It is in this particular that many communities have failed 

 where the work of extermination has been attempted. 



As so many friends who are interested in this movement have frequently 

 remarked upon the meagre outlay of money, it may be well here to make the 

 following statement : It was my intention at the outstart to make every 

 dollar go as far as possible, in order to demonstrate that this kind of work 

 need not be so expensive as many people believe it would be. 



Instead of purchasing a horse and wagon and engaging two or more men 

 for the season, as advised, I arranged with a liveryman to pay him $2.50 

 per day for a team, while in service, and fifteen cents per hour for labor, 

 while employed. Then, instead of making my frequent tour of direction 

 and inspection in a carriage, as our good Mayor suggested, the wheel and 

 trolley car were found to be more convenient and much less expensive. We 

 also avoided the mistake of employing ignorant labor to pour oil upon 

 what was presumed to be troubled waters, teaching our young man to know 

 the aquatic form of the mosquito when he saw it, and to make periodic 

 trips of examination, so as to know that a pool was infested with larvae, 

 or pupae, before oil was applied, thus saving time, labor and material. My 

 own services, of course, were voluntary. * * * 



