FISHES AND THE MOSQUITO PROBLEM. 837 



be a valuable aid. They are quite prolific, throwing off young to the number 

 of perhaps 10 to 20 at intervals of about a week from April to October. The 

 young of May will be breeding by July or August the same year, thus giving 

 a second generation in one summer. 



But notwithstanding all that has been said, it is a question in the mind 

 of the writer whether any combination of fishes will prove effective as against 

 the Anopheles genus of mosquitoes under present conditions of growing orna- 

 mental aquatic plants. There must be a change in the construction and 

 management of the water garden. As these are under the charge of intelligent 

 men, it is only necessary that the problem should be understood and that 

 the laws should compel the eradication of Anophtles and provide for an espio- 

 nage over the places where it breeds. But until some organized branch of 

 the state governments takes up an investigation of this phase of the problem 

 in a comprehensive manner nothing will be done. The magnitude of the task 

 is not yet comprehended. It is quite possible that all of the beautiful masses 

 of aquatics can be grown on mud alone without destroying their ornamental 

 character, leaving the large open ones to the water in such a way that the fishes 

 can do their work easily. In the great wild areas of swamp and stream aloof 

 from human abodes the problem is more serious and will tax human ingenuity, 

 but here only the hunter and fisherman are concerned. 



At present the attitude of the public mind toward suggested means of 

 exterminating mosquitoes is good-naturedly tolerant but incredulous. And 

 while the children are being crammed with Greek, Latin, and geometry they 

 do not learn how to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes about their own homes 

 or how properly to screen the houses in which they live. It is a lamentable 

 fact that even where mosquitoes are most numerous and virulent not one house 

 in a hundred, it is safe to say, is mosquito-proof. There is an old saying that 

 "What is everybody's business is nobody's business." Practical work to be 

 effective must be somebody's particular business. Local boards of any kind 

 can not easily run counter to individual sentiments and prejudices. It is the 

 State alone that can overcome local stumbling blocks and inspire respect, and it is 

 for this reason that attention is called to the seriousness of this problem and 

 the suggestion offered that it is worthy of the serious consideration of those 

 whose interest is in the waters where mosquitoes breed and abound — the fish 

 culturists and fishermen, represented by the fish and game commissions. 



In a paper prepared for the meeting of the American Mosquito Extermina- 

 tion Society in 1905 the writer advanced the opinion that experimentation with 

 and the supplying of fishes for the purpose of mosquito extermination is at least 

 as properly the function of fish and game commissions as that of supplying 

 them in the interests of sport and recreation, which is as much as can justly be 

 claimed for trout culture. The mosquito problem involves both the comfort 



