Report Upon an Experiment Having for its Object the Intro- 

 duction of Gambusia Affinis and Heterandria Formosa 

 to the Waters of New Jersey as Destroyers 

 of Anopheles Larvae. 



BY WILLIAM P. SEAL. 



It is probably best to premise that, as far as ocular evidence 

 goes, the experiment in question has so far proven a failure, but it 

 is not absolutely certain that this is the case, nor would it be proof 

 of its impracticability. Having originally suggested the experi- 

 ment, the writer, at the solicitation of Prof. John B. Smith, con- 

 sented to carry it out. . 



In a, paj^er presented at the last meeting of the American Mos- 

 quito Extermination Society, entitled "Fishes in Their Eelation 

 to the Mosquito Problem," the writer took the gTOund that the dis- 

 trilmtion of iishes for the purpose of mosquito extermination is as 

 properly the function of fish commissions as the same work in the 

 interests of sport, or even of food-supply, inasmuch as it relates to 

 both the health and comfort of all our citizens, including the 

 sportsmen. 



It may be well, also, to note here that the writer suggested the 

 same experiment to the United States Fish Commission as early 

 as 1901, and was informed that "it Avas a subject not relevant to 

 the functions of the commission, but pertinent to the Division of 

 Entomology, Department of Agriculture," It is interesting to 

 observe that the United States Bureau of Fisheries is now making 

 the same experiment by the introduction of Gamhusia and allied 

 species from the costal waters of Texas to the canals and irrigating 

 ditches of Hawaii. 



The writer, in all suggestions on the subject, insisted on the 

 month of March as the most favorable time for making the experi- 



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