DRAW CONCLUSIONS CAREFULLY 101 



sures, the difficulties encountered, the personnel 

 employed, the amount of oil used, and it should 

 include a statement of accounts. The fever census 

 returns should be quoted, but no deductions or claims 

 of reduction of fever incidence should be made in six 

 months, for example. A much longer time must be 

 given before any such results can be expected in 

 numerical form free from error, although the fever 

 has been reduced without doubt. In the same report 

 some of the more sanitary backslidings of the town 

 may be described, and their remedies suggested. 



In this report an important point may be em- 

 phasised. Mosquitos are a disgusting household pest. 

 By their diminution the town is being rid of a plague. 

 Any one who has visited the tropics will testify to the 

 discomfort caused by the domestic mosquito. Even 

 in subtropical countries this holds good. A visit to 

 Venice, for example, is spoiled by the misery induced 

 by Culex jatigans and Stegomyia calopus. In the 

 summer, when Venice is most picturesque, these mos- 

 quitos make life unendurable ; the former annoys at 

 night, the latter all day long. The hotels are full of 

 them, and these species attack the tourists even in 

 gondolas on the canals ; they give one no peace. All 

 day long one is squashing the striped Stegomyiae, and 

 the Culices bite one's ankles during dinner ; the mos- 

 quito net effectively keeps out the fresh sea breeze 

 on hot evenings. Venice could be cleared of this pest 

 with the expenditure of some energy and a small 

 sum. The cesspools could easily be dealt with as at 

 Port Said and Ismailia. Culex and Stegomyia do not 



