CALIFOKNIA KISH AND GAME. 21 



1ms almost entirely supplanted the older name on our coast and for that 

 reason should be used. It is, however, one of those unfortunate names 

 borrowed from another fish from another part of the world. The sand 

 dab of the Atlantic coast {Hippoglossoidcs platcssoidcs) has the best 

 i-ight to the nanu^, for it Avas first so called. It bears little resemblance 

 to our sand dab. So in your copy of California Fish and Game please 

 write sand dab in place of soft flounder. 



Also in light of the fact that the names skipjack and l)onito have been 

 so interchanged in southern California it will be best not to use the 

 name skipjack at all. It is a poor name to use in any event, for there 

 are a dozen or more unrelated fishes known by this name in various 

 parts of the world. So in the paper on mackerel-like fishes in the July 

 jiumber of California Fish and Game please change the name skipjack 

 to California bonito. 



The name oceanic bonito, over which there has been some question, had 

 better stand, for it is so known from Australia to the Mediterranean 

 (either as oceanic bonito or as bonito) and it is well not to call it differ- 

 entlv on our coast. 



THE STICKLEBACK: A FISH EMINENTLY FITTED BY 

 NATURE AS A MOSQUITO DESTROYER. 



By CARL L. HUBBS. 



Since it has l)een proved that malaria, yellow fevei', and other dread 

 diseases are carried by mos<iuito(\s, there has develojx'd a wide interest 

 in tliei-:e little insects, which hitherto had been regarded more as a 

 nuisance than as a menace. Many studies have been undertaken in 

 (U'der to determine the l)est methods by which mosquitoes may be 

 exterminated or at least greatly reduced in numbers. 



The use of window screens, the draining of swamps, and the oiling 

 of waters, as well as the spread of natural enemies, are methods of 

 control that have received attention with very notable success. For 

 instance, the building of the Panama Canal has been made possible 

 by the destruction of mosquitoes and the consequent control of yellow 

 fever. 



A word as to the main methods of mos<iuito control. The use of 

 screens does not eliminate the evil. The draining of swamps has been 

 very successfully practiced in New Jersey, and is api)licable to other 

 regions where large, swampy tracts occur. The use of oil, which 

 spreads as a film over the water, forms a sufficient control, but requires 

 continued attention and expense, and can scarcely be applied to most 

 ornamental ponds or reservoirs or to pools from which animals drink. 



There is thus need for other methods, and of these the spread of the 

 natural enemies of the mosquitoes is by far the most important. These 

 natural enemies are numerous, and the most valuable of them all for 

 the purpose are fishes, which destroy the young stages of the mosquitoes 

 as well as the adults when they alight on the surface of the water. 



Among the fishes extensively used in mosquito control, the little 

 killifishes or topminnows may be mentioned, but there are others which 

 can be strongly i-econnnended. This short I'cport is written to call 

 further attention to the value of the stickleback (Gasfffosh ks) as a 

 mosquito destroyei- in California, particularly in the coastal regions. 



