244 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LI. No. 1314 



of soienxje I am busy peeling potatoes." I know 

 nothing about him at present (January 17, 1920), 

 as the north has been severed from the south by the 

 Bolsheviek invasion. 



Ever since the false armouncemeiit of Pro- 

 fessor Pawlow's death a few years ago all his 

 friends have been anxiously avraiting word 

 from him. The above is indeed pitiable but 

 at least indicates that he was living seven 

 months ago. 



Francis G. Benedict 



anopheles quadrimaculatus and 



anopheles punctipennis in 



salt water 



While it is well known that Anopheles 

 ludlowi and Anopheles chaudoyei may pass 

 their larval stages in brackish water, the re- 

 port^ of Smith (1904) regarding the occur- 

 rence of Anopheles quadrimaculatus in brack- 

 ish water has been either ignored or dis- 

 credited. Anopheles crucians has been found 

 in salt water at times. 



It seems desirable to record certain cases 

 of the distribution of larvse of malarial 

 mosquitoes in brackish water which have 

 come to my observation. Although not 

 numerous these cases indicate that the Amer- 

 ican species of Anophelines may occur in 

 brackish water rather frequently. 



During the summer of 1918, while in 

 charge of a malarial mosquito survey of the 

 zone around Camp Abraham Eustis, Lee 

 Hall, Va., the writer secured several imagoes 

 of Anopheles quadrimaculatus and Anopheles 

 punctipennis from larvse taken in brackish 

 water. Later, (1919) a single imago of A. 

 quadrimaculatus developed from a collection 

 taken in a brackish pond near Hampton, Va. 



On August 21, 1918, in company with Mr. 

 T. B. Hayne, a sanitary inspector in the 

 TJ. S. P. H. S., the writer was surveying the 

 draws leading off one of the tributaries to 

 Skiff's Creek, near Camp Eustis, when a 

 large draw was encountered on which great 

 mats of algje (Spirogyra and (Edogonium) 

 were floating. Such algal mats ordinarily 



1 Smith, J. B., 1904, Report of the N. J. Ag. 

 Exp. Sta. upon the mosquitoes occurring within 

 the state, their habits, life history, etc. 



afford protection to mosquito larvEe and it 

 was therefore not surprising that we secured 

 two pupse and several larvae of the second and 

 third moults of Anopheles. Since the water 

 was slightly brackish, the expectation wag 

 that the imagoes would be those of Anopheles 

 crucians. During the night, however, two 

 females of the species A. quadrimaculatus 

 emerged. On the next day a second trip was 

 made to the same draw and temperature and 

 specific gravity readings were taken, a number 

 of larvse of all ages being secured. The tem- 

 perature of the water supporting the algal 

 mats was 2Y° C. and the specific gravity was 

 1.0048. Prom the second collection three 

 females of the species A. quadrimaculatus 

 emerged and with them two females of the 

 species A. punctipennis. 



The source of the brackish water was from 

 tidal flow and the tributary from which the 

 draw led, had a temperature of 25° C. and a 

 specific gravity of 1.0058. The seepage was 

 not great. In this case there is no question 

 that the eggs of Anopheles furnished larvse 

 which were able to resist a quite considerable 

 salinity. Except for the presence of salts, the 

 environment was one ordinarily exceedingly 

 likely to furnish malarial mosquitoes. 



During the summer of 1919, while the 

 writer was making a survey of territory in 

 the vicinity of ISTewport ISTews, Va., much of 

 which had been under the control of our sani- 

 tary engineers, a collection was made from a 

 pond between Hampton and Newport News, 

 which had been recently cut off by a dike from 

 the tidal water of a large creek. The specific 

 gravity of the pond water was 1.005 while 

 that of the tidal creek was 1.015. One imago 

 of Anopheles quadrimaculatus developed from 

 this collection. 



It is quite evident from the cases here 

 recorded that future control work in con- 

 nection with Anopheline mosquitoes must in- 

 clude rather careful study of the slightly 

 saline waters. In all probability the adult 

 females of Anopheles select their breeding 

 places with more reference to favorable tem- 

 perature, light and vegetation than with 

 reference to the chemical conditions. Field 



