4i6 AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 



elevator shafts. Further questioning showed that the excavation 

 below the flooring- of the cafe was several feet below street level, 

 was irregular, practically unused and that there were always 

 pools in some parts of it. These pools are mostly surface drain- 

 age water, though there was some waste from the hydraulic ele- 

 vator. 



Cautious inquiry showed a similar condition in a large number 

 of the hotels near the beach where the lower or basement floors 

 were at or even below the street level, and the excavations be- 

 low the floor not much above high tide level. The mystery was 

 then solved because such conditions favor the development of 

 the larvae and explain all the peculiarities of occurrence observed 

 by me. 



The remedy for this condition lies within the power of the in- 

 dividual and must vary with location and conditions. 



b. THE BRIGANTINE BEACH PROBLEM. 



Brigantine Beach is a stretch of narrow island about six miles 

 in length, separated from Absecon Island and Atlantic City by 

 Absecon Inlet, and extending northeast and southwest. It is 

 from one-fourth to three-fourths of a mile in width and mostly 

 composed of sand hills. A branch of the Atlantic City Railroad 

 runs to the island, there is a trolley road from end to end, and a 

 line of steamboats connects it with Atlantic City. Efiforts have 

 been made at various times tO' "boom" this place and hotels and 

 cottages have been erected, but failure has resulted in all cases, 

 despite the favorable location of the beach, and several times 

 the railroad has discontinued its service because of lack of traffic. 



The explanation came when Mr. Brehme made a thorough sur- 

 vey of the island. Its surface is very irregular, made up of hills 

 of various sizes, with depressions or valleys between. In these 

 depressions there is more or less vegetation and a little sediment 

 that serves to hold water and mosquito larvae. Several large 

 sedge areas toward the northern end have occasional tide con- 

 nections and are full of holes and wrigglers. Toward this end 

 only the salt marsh species breed, and chiefly soUicitans. Toward 

 the southern end of the island there is hole after hole, depression 

 after depression, forming one of the worst mosquito mills on 

 the coast. Here not only soUicitans, cantator, tcuniorhynchus 

 and salinarius breed, but Anopheles species were found in great 

 numbers. 



The remedy for a large part of the trouble has been indicated 

 in the description of the breeding places. The sand hills should 



