THE MOSQUITOS REDUCED 95 



sisted or returned in one or two houses, and this 

 happens now if the mosquito brigade stops work 

 for a single week. 



The male mosquitos are the first to be reduced. 

 Their lives are so short that if their birth-rate is 

 suddenly curtailed their population disappears almost 

 at once. Then the existing females cannot effect the 

 coitus necessary after laying a number of eggs. They 

 also cease to annoy human beings. Any food would 

 seem to suit these widows ; they are not very par- 

 ticular about blood-sucking when they have no eggs 

 to mature. 



So mosquitos ceased to trouble, and with them 

 went the fever. The unhealthy, pallid-cheeked chil- 

 dren, the unemployed men, and the sick wife disap- 

 peared with the fever, and the misery became ameli- 

 orated. Away went most of the professional beggars, 

 the factories began work again in the summer, and 

 the workshops had no need to close. The attendance 

 at the schools is now good and the children are well 

 and strong. They have some colour in their cheeks, 

 and are able to play on the beach it is a very 

 different state of affairs. The place is buzzing, docks 

 are being constructed, shipping dues are rolling in, 

 and trade is progressing. It has cost about 1,000 a 

 year, or sixpence per head of population annually. 



