180 MOSQUITOES 



ports and all of them of the most favorable eharaeter. One 

 entirely reliable gentleman reported to me that within five 

 minotes after he had anointed a rain-barrel, seventy-five mos- 

 quitoes (presumably females) came to the barrel and seventy- 

 three of them perished, while the other three made haste to 

 escape. In one case, a lady reported to me that she took nearly 

 a pint of the dead insects from a hogshead the morning after 

 putting the oil in it. These and reports like them greatly 

 encouraged my efforts, and soon the oil was in almost universal 

 use and the town smelled like a Standard Oil tank. I continued 

 from time to time to issue the leaflets, and followed them up with a 

 police inspection. The result has been a wonderful success. The 

 plague, while by no means entirely abated, has been decreased to 

 a marked degree. In many parts of the town, the nets used so 

 constantly heretofore have been thrown aw^ay, and there are no 

 mosquitoes at all. In other parts, while their numbers are 

 lessened, they still continu-e to be a nuisance. This difference is 

 doubtless due to the neglect of some persons in the particular 

 neighborhood to use the oil ; and also, no doubt, to peculiar 

 facilities afforded for mosquito breeding in some parts of the 

 to^vn more than in others. I observed a decided increase in the 

 number in the latter part of August and in the month of Sep- 

 tember. 



Just now we are greatly increasing our efforts toward their 

 destruction, so as, if possible, to destroy the crop that would 

 hibernate, and thus reduce the number of l)reeders to live over to 

 spring. 



There can be no doubt about the success of the scheme. All 

 that is needed is persistent, unremitting application of the oil to 

 all pools, sinks, water-closets, old cisterns, etc. , etc. , and another 

 season we expect to have an ordinance with a penalty attached 

 and to enforce the oil anointing even more systematically than 

 has been done this vear. 



