SUMMER NUMBER Pil 
The immature malaria mosquito spends its life in water. It 
can breathe only when at the surface, and stays there nearly 
all of the time. Water vegetation helns it greatly in its efforts 
to escape the minnows that pursue it. 
Certain plants may, and creosote does, repel the mosquito. 
A top swimming minnow, whose favorite food is the imma- 
ture water dwelling forms of the mosquito, is present in fresh 
and sometimes in slightly brackish water, from the Gulf of 
Mexico to New Jersey. The young of this minnow are born 
alive—as many as two hundred at a time—and ready to eat the 
smaller water living mosquitoes. When food is scarce, these 
minnows eat their young. Shallow, weedy waters where they 
are reasonably safe from larger fish and where young mos- 
quitoes are plentiful, are their favorite natural haunts. 
Larger fish, water birds, and at least one water insect prey 
on this top minnow. Other minnows and some of the larger 
fish eat the water living forms of the mosquito, but the top 
minnow is by far our most reliable ally in this respect. Some 
other insects, insectivorous birds, bats, lizards, and frogs hunt 
the winged mosquito. In turn, these are hunted, principally 
by birds, snakes, and large fish. 
As direct and indirect aids to the mosquito, we thus have ex- 
posed standing water, unscreened sources for her “blood meal’, 
brush, Spanish moss, aquatic plants, hollow trees, unscreened 
buildings, and other hiding places, for either the immature or 
the winged mosquito; finally the things which interfere with the 
multiplication of the mosquito’s enemies. 
It is obvious that a sufficient number of the mosquito’s 
enemies, plus the removal of enough of its aids, would result in 
its eventual extermination over an area thus protected. 
It remained for actual experiment to show that this condi- 
tion could be brought about in a reasonable length of time and 
for a very moderate cost. 
The cleaning done for agricultural purposes removed a large 
proportion of its day hiding places. This was continued in the 
parking done at a cost of about five dollars an acre. The land 
parked could have been profitably cleared for agriculture. 
High grass, weeds, ets., were mowed. The cost of doing this 
comes properly under the head of common orderliness on any 
farm. Hollow trees, unscreened buildings, wooden steps, etc., 
were painted inside with creosote paint, at a cost of twenty 
dollars. 
