REPORT ON MOSQUITOES. 409 



in the grass grown sand near high water Hne; then the sand 

 dunes with either meadow land or fresh water swamp between 

 them and the wooded strip, then the salt hay zone, beyond which 

 is the sedge marsh with its narrow wooded island running par- 

 allel with the beach or nearly so. The fresh water swamps have 

 a deep soft mud bottom in which cat-tails and marsh-mallows 

 grow. 



"June 1 8th, explored the territory beyond the railroad from 

 the southern end of the island to near Peermont. Below Avalon, 

 opposite the water tank, I found several ponds formed by sod 

 having been cut out, and in those having no fish, wrigglers were 

 found. One of the wriggler ponds was strongly tinctured with 

 iron by hoops Avhich lay in it ; but this did not seem to affect the 

 inhabitants. In this vicinity larvae were also taken in brown cedar 

 water; the first time they were ever taken in this water. 



"June 19th, went to Life Saving Station No. 35, through the 

 salt hay and sedge marsh on the way to Stone Harbor, and went 

 out to the islands in the sedge. The islands farthest from the 

 beach had no salt hay zone around them and an apparently well 

 drained sedge marsh extended to the highlands. Opposite the 

 life saving station is at least an acre of salt hay marsh cut up 

 with breeding ponds with thousands of larvje in them. Below 

 the life saving station the country is practically free from salt 

 hay, nothing but sand hills with sedge marsh to the edge of the 

 sandy area." 



I have been over this area myself on several occasions in whole 

 or in part. With Captain Hankins I rowed from Anglesea 

 through Hereford Inlet to the southern end of the beach and 

 tramped to the life saving station. Just south of this station the 

 strip of woodland begins and extends to the edge of the marsh. 

 Here there are a number of ponds without outlet in which w^rig- 

 lers simply swarm. And along the marsh edge of this highland 

 are little coves, some an acre in extent and some only a few 

 feet, in which millions of larvte were wriggling in water made 

 tepid by the August sun. A brood was just maturing and clouds 

 of specimens followed us out on the marsh, into the boat and 

 to the sedge islands on the west side of the Great Channel. No 

 breeding places were found on these marsh islands, parts of 

 which are flooded at each tide and where fish were present in 

 every pool. The entire base of the highland fronting the marsh, 

 to and beyond Stone Harbor, affords breeding places. In most 

 instances a single ditch to the channel with a few small ditches 

 from the sides, would be sufficient to drain the breeding areas 

 and one of the worst of them needed only an opening through a 

 narrow ridge of highland that kept out ordinary tides. On two 



