20 MOSQUITOES 



work at the Cold 8i)riiig- Harbor Laborator}^ on Long- 

 Island, has stated that with a south breeze, especially 

 after a prolonged and gentle wind of five or more hours' 

 duration, mosquitoes become very troublesome and it is 

 the local supposition that they are carried from the south 

 shore of Long Island, fifteen miles away. This is, the 

 writer finds, the general opinion at several points on the 

 north shore of Long Island, but observations Avhich he 

 has made on the mosquito topography of that x^ortion of 

 the island have shown that there are usually many breed- 

 ing-xilaces much nearer than the south shore, and usually 

 quite near the infested places, which will much more 

 easily account for the mosquito supply. In fact, careful 

 observations made by Mr. H. C. Weeks, of Bayside, Long 

 Island, have shown that in the immediate vicinity of the 

 Cold Spring Harbor laboratories there are many breed- 

 ing-j)laces of such extent and such capacity as to indicate 

 that the south shore theory must be abandoned. 



So many instances, in fact, have come to my attention, 

 where extensive breeding-places profusely stocked with 

 mosquito larvae have been overlooked by the people of 

 given neighborhoods, that I have, as a general rule, be- 

 come more or less incredulous on the subject of extended 

 mosquito flights. Fermi and Lumbao, in their report on 

 operations in Sassari, state that the mosquitoes of the city 

 do not go far from their original breeding-grounds, since 

 they find sufficient food near the habitations of i^eople 

 and animals. The reason which the Italian authors give 

 for this absence of migration may be correct or incorrect, 

 but their experience has shown that where a house loca- 



