67 



III. INTRODUCTION OF "MILLIONS." 



The little fish known as " Millions " ( Lchistcs poeciiiodcs) on 

 account of the rapidity with which it reproduces is found in Bar- 

 bados. It lives in pools and thrives well in any small collection of 

 water, such as tanks, garden fountains, etc., so that it abounds 

 everywhere. It is a striking fact that the Island of Barbados 

 enjoys an immunity from malaria, and as this little fish feeds 

 to a large extent on the larvae of mosquitoes, which occur in 

 such collections of water, the conclusion has been drawn that 

 the immunity of the island is due to the fact that the mos- 

 quitoes which convey the malarial parasite are kept in check 

 by the presence of the fish, the malarial mosquito being un- 

 known in Barbados, though other mosquitos are found. So far 

 as the evidence goes it would seem that the conclusion is 

 justified. 



This being so, it was naturally suggested that the fish might 

 with great advantage be introduced into the countries suffering 

 from malaria. It was accordingly introduced into most of the 

 other West Indian Islands, apparently with good results. In 

 1904 a " Citizen's Antimosquito Committee " was organised 

 at Honolulu for the purpose of introducing mosquito larvae- 

 eating fish, and samples of various kinds {Mollinisia, Adinia, 

 Gamhusia and Fundulus) were successfully transported from 

 the United States to Hawaii. No difficulty was experienced 

 in transportation nor in the subsequent rearing of their progeny. 

 The success of these experiments was doubtless due to the 

 similarity of conditions, especially of temperature, in the two 

 places. 



It has proved otherwise, howe^•er, in attempts to introduce 

 the fish into remoter and colder regions. A consignment was 

 brought to London and throve fairly well in the Zoological 

 Gardens, though they did not increase as rapidly as was hoped. 

 They were kept in special tanks, as they would readily have 

 perished from cold in open air tanks in the chmate of England. 

 As there were applications from several of the English Colonies 

 for supplies of the fish, an arrangement was made through 

 the Colonial Office with the Department of Agriculture of 

 Brabados to keep a stock, from which the fish could be supplied, 

 though the information obtained b}' the staff of the Zoological 

 Gardens did not indicate that the importation of the fish would 



[C.P. 5-13.] 



