511 A. E. Verrill— The Bermuda Islands. 99 
been, in at least three of those years, great scarcity of food and more 
or less famine, when large numbers of the most worthless of the 
vicious people sent out in 1613 had died miserably. (See ch. 23, d.) 
The ordinary diseases are essentially similar to those in the eastern 
United States. 
Malaria is said to be unknown in the Bermudas, and it is not yet 
known whether the malaria-carrying mosquito (Anopheles) occurs 
there or not, though certain species of Cudex are sufficiently abundant 
in summer.* But typhoid fever is not uncommon. 
Dr. Christopher Harvey, Staff-surgeon of the Royal Navy, writing 
in 1890 (British Medical Journal for 1890, pt. 1, p. 1172), says that 
“the records of the Naval Hospital indisputably prove that remit- 
tent fever does not occur in the islands,” and that of all cases of 
intermittent fever, not one was contracted on the islands. 
In former years there have been several very severe epidemics of 
yellow fever, introduced from the West Indies, and first appearing 
among the sailors and soldiers. 
It is probable, therefore, that the small mosquito that is believed 
to convey the yellow fever microbe is either native of the Bermudas, 
or else it was introduced there at each time ot the epidemics, which 
could easily have happened. Once there, the abundant open cisterns 
of rain water would have afforded it ideal places for breeding and 
propagating the disease. 
It would be of great importance to the inhabitants if they could be 
induced to take intelligent pains to suppress the mosquito nuisance. 
Much could be done by more thoroughly covering the openings of 
their cisterns, using wire gauze over the necessary openings; by 
introducing gold fishes or other small carnivorous fishes to devour 
the larvee in cisterns or other bodies of water that cannot be drained 
off, or that are used for cattle ; and by the use of kerosene or other 
coal oils on the surface of brackish pools, not used for cattle, where 
it could do no harm, but would effectually destroy the mosquito 
larvee, if applied every fortnight, during the mosquito season. 
Many of the small, stagnant, and brackish pools and bogs should 
be filled up, for some mosquitoes prefer brackish waters for breeding 
purposes. 
In the spring months, when we were there, mosquitoes were not 
common, but they are said to be very troublesome in summer, which 
*Mr. F. V. Theobald, in his extensive Monograph of the Culicide of the 
World, recently published by the British Museum, records no other genus of 
mosquitoes from Bermuda, except Culex. He had examined a lot of 59 speci- 
mens sent by Governor Barker, in 1897 (coll. 21, vol. ii, p. 358). He did not 
determine the species; probably the specimens were too poor. 
