RESULTS UP TO THE PRESENT. 



It is always very difficult to make an exact estimate of the number 

 of mosquitoes anywhere, and, therefore, to gauge their increase or 

 diminution with mathematical certainty. For the present we must rely 

 on a general consensus of opinion. Judging from this, the results are 

 already most encouraging indeed unexpectedly so. Lieut. McKEN- 

 DRICK informs me that he was not conscious of having once been bitten 

 by mosquitoes during his month's stay in Freetown. After the first 

 week or so, I myself was never bitten, either at Government House* 

 or at the house of the Expedition, in the centre of the town, though I am 

 sure I should have been bitten several times a day in both, before the 

 commencement of operations. Dr. TAYLOR writes on the I7th Sep- 

 tember, ' I think there is no doubt but that the number of mosquitoes 

 (Anopheles} in the streets we have dealt with is diminishing ; the people 

 resident in the streets will tell you that at once ; and the number of 

 pots and tins that have been removed has made a considerable 

 diminution in the Culex' meaning also Stegomyia. On the 28th 

 September, he writes, 'The mosquitoes are still on the decline, and in 

 the streets we have been working in it is exceedingly difficult to find 

 Anopheles now. Of course in the untouched parts they are still to be 

 got. As for the Culex (or Stegomyia, to be correct) they have got a 

 fright. They also are getting very scarce. The true Culex I seldom 

 see ; only now and again.' What this means in a tropical town only 

 those who have resided in such can know. 



The valuable testimony of Dr. DANIELS to the same effect is given 

 in his report at the end. All those who are familiar with his important 

 work on malaria and other tropical diseases will know that he his one 

 of the most cautious and trustworthy of observers. 



Altogether I think that we have reason to be more than satisfied 

 with the progress made. 



ACCOUNTS. 



It might be imagined that all this work has been very expensive. 

 On the contrary the expense has been slight. The whole cost of the 

 expedition from its beginning, including cost of fitting out, salary of 

 Dr. TAYLOR, wages of from twenty to forty workmen, and of eight 

 hammock boys, rent and fitting of the house of the expedition, and 

 other items, had amounted, at the end of September, that is for three 



* Capt. Hodgins, A.D.C. to the Governor, had partially cleared Government 

 House of larvae before our arrival. 



