94 MOSQUITO REDUCTION 



spermathecae with his spermatozoa. Then she re- 

 entered the adjoining house and started feeding again ; 

 but she noticed how the mosquitos had almost disap- 

 peared. This was of some advantage to her, for the 

 inmates of the house no longer used mosquito cur- 

 tains and she was able to feed uninterruptedly. 



Six weeks later she had another brood of eggs to 

 lay. The fountain was now dry. She searched high 

 and low, but there was no water anywhere that was 

 suitable for her eggs ; also there were no male mos- 

 quitos. All the cesspools contained petroleum, and 

 even the cisterns were screened with wire gauze. So 

 she laid her eggs in some clean water in a basin, but 

 the larvae died for w r ant of food. She searched 

 for a male mosquito of her species to consort with 

 again ; he could not be found. There were no mos- 

 quitos at all. Then the craving for blood seemed to 

 forsake her. She became a vegetarian, living on the 

 juices of old banana skins and discarded water- 

 melons. But her life, once so full of adventure, was 

 blasted, and she died disappointed, but with the 

 knowledge that she had lived. 



Such is the tragedy of the last of the mosquitos ; 

 it is the only tragedy of a mosquito campaign if 

 the latter is properly carried out the remainder is 

 comedy, and an interesting one. The mosquitos 

 disappear rapidly. In a few weeks, even in the hot 

 weather, there will be comparatively few insects left. 

 After three weeks, at Port Said, many of the mos- 

 quito nets were put up for good. In parts of the 

 town where leaky cesspools existed, mosquitos per- 



