REPORT ON MOSQUITOES. 455 



shore, but for some reason they do not fly so far inland from 

 these Delaware Bay marshes ; and with mosquitoes in swarms at 

 Greenwich and along the bay, Bridgeton may be practically free,, 

 though Bridgeton gets its share at times. An important question 

 was, how far up these rivers and creeks do danger conditions 

 extend and is there any breeding of salt marsh forms when the 

 creek water has become entirely fresh. A second question, of 

 almost equal importance was, does the marsh along that area 

 hav^e the necessary consistency to maintain a ditch, and if so, 

 what chance of cheap drainage is there. 



The exploration of this area was intrusted to J\Ir. John Mellor, 

 a graduate of the engineering school of the college, who, as an 

 undergradute, had done similar work for me in 1903, with ^Ir. 

 Wagner. The period between June i6th and July 15th was 

 unusually dry, which was fortunate, because the work was not 

 interrupted; but not so fortunate in that many breeding areas 

 were dry. This made the work more pleasant, but made it neces- 

 sary for Mr. Mellor to determine the breeding areas from the 

 character of the land rather than from actual observation. In 

 this the experience gained along the Atlantic shore stood him in 

 good stead, and I believe that little remains to be added even in 

 a wet season. 



The river and bay shore is sandy for almost the entire distance 

 surveyed and sometimes there is a ridge or bank separating it 

 from the marsh area that begins immediately back of it. Prac- 

 tically all the marsh carries a heavy sod over a mud or clay 

 bottom, all the streams and creeks running through it have well 

 defined edges, and all ditches eighteen inches or more in depth 

 have no vegetable growth in the bottom. Some of the ditches 

 ha\'e been in place for years, have the banks heavily fringed with 

 reeds and yet drain perfectly and carry fish freely. All parts of 

 the marsh then, with possible local exceptions, are drainable by 

 means of narrow deep ditches and there is a large number of 

 creeks into which these ditches can be carried. Much of the 

 marsh is used to grow salt hay and some ditching has been done 

 to drain areas for that purpose — always with success. Some- 

 times this drainage is sufficient to prevent mosquito breeding; 

 more often it is not. Bad places are sometimes intentionally 

 avoided because more ditches would be needed to make it fit for 

 haying. 



Accompanying his report Mr. Mellor prepared a map showing 

 the territory explored and with the breeding places marked, but 

 this map cannot well be published herewith. 



Mr. Mellor's report is as fallows : 



