832 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XVII. 



12 feet from the ground, was saucer-shaped, made of mud and lined with fine 

 grass, roots and feathers. 



Anthus trivialis. The Tree Pipit. 

 A few are to be found round Quetta. I got two nests on the 21st June, one 

 containing three incubated eggs, the other two young just hatched and a third 

 just coming out. The nests were placed in a hollow on the ground, well 

 sheltered and nicely lined with flower-down and other soft material. 



Emberiza stewarti. The White-capped Bunting. 

 Found in numbers round Quetta, but somehow I was very unsuccessful with 

 them. I only got one clutch of three eggs, on the 29th June, my man shooting 

 the bird. He informed me the nest was situated on the ground. 



R. M. BETHAM, Majoe, 



The 101 si Grenadiers. 

 Quetta, 6th October 1906. 



No. XIX.— DESTRUCTION OF MOSQUITOES AND THEIR 

 LARVJE BY FISH AND LIME. 



It is well known that in all tropical countries stagnant water, wherever 

 found, is a sure breeding place for mosquitoes. Not long ago I occupied a 

 house, in the Punjab, which was infested by these pests. On searching for their 

 breeding place I found it in an open cistern which had been built to contain 

 water for the garden. The cistern was about eight or nine feet long by five 

 broad, and five deep, and the water in it was quite brown from the mosquito 

 larvae it contained. To destroy these, I placed in the cistern about fifty or 

 sixty of the little silvery fish named " Chilwa " (Cheela argentea) which I 

 netted in a neighbouring stream. In a week or so these fish had completely 

 cleared the water of larvae, and not only that, but every mosquito which sat 

 on the water for the purpose of depositing its eggs, was instantly devoured. 



The Chilwa is a surface feeder, and is one of the most eager fly takers in 

 India. A mosquito hovering over the surface of the water even, is jumped at 

 and unerringly secured at a distance of an inch or so before it can settle. 



This fish is easily procured all over India. In the Deccan, and in the South 

 of India it is known by the name of " Roopchal. " If these little fish were 

 introduced into patches of stagnant water, which cannot easily be drained, and 

 protected, there would be an end to Anopheles in that neighbourhood. 



I made a further search in the same compound to discover, if possible, more 

 breeding places. I soon found these in two rows of fifty 'water gurrahs, which 

 had been placed on each side of the house as fire buckets, for the house had a 

 thatched roof. A good handful of lime in eacii gurrah, well stirred up, not 

 only immediately killed all of the mosquito larvae, of which there were 

 hundreds in each pot, but most effectually prevented the mosquitoes from using 

 the gurrahs as breeding places again. After this my house became quite free 

 from mosquitoes. 



