The Story of the Mosquito 



The Mosquito is an Ancient Enemy 



The mosquito has been a pest since the times of early history 

 Ancient writers record how the warriors of the old days were 

 forced to fight mosquitoes as well as their other enemies. According 

 to the early historians, these insects swarmed in such prodigious num- 

 bers in old Egypt that the natives of marshy regions built towers on 

 which to sleep, since the mosquitoes did not fly high. Also, mosquito 

 nets and canopies were used. The army of Julian, the Apostate, on 

 one occasion was so fiercely attacked by mosquitoes as to be driven 

 back. In Ancient Greece, the inhabitants of cities were sometimes 

 forced to abandon their homes on account of mosquitoes. Sapor, 

 the King of Persia, it is said, was compelled to raise the siege of 

 Nisibis because a plague of "gnats" attacked his elephants and 

 beasts of burden, and so caused the rout of his army. 



In the neighborhood of Crimea, according to later writers, the 

 Russian soldiers were obliged to sleep in sacks to defend themselves 

 from the mosquitoes ; and in spite of this protection some of the men 

 died in consequence of severe bites by the furious blood-suckers. 



Spenser, the English writer of the Seventeenth Century, referred 

 to the great swarms of mosquitoes in both England and Ireland. The 

 lines of his "Faerie Queene," 



Whiles in the air their clust'ring army flies I 



That as a cloud doth seem to dim the skies, i 



Ne man or beast may rest or take repast * • • 



indicate the magnitude and fierceness of the pest. Describing the 

 Irish mosquitoes, he said they "doe more to annoy the naked rebels 

 and doe more sharply wound them, than all the enemies' swords and 

 speares." 



Today mosquitoes are found in all lands and in all climes. Thej 

 are abundant in the torrid countries of the tropics and they are com- 

 mon in the frozen regions of Alaska. They pester the untutored 

 native of the Malay States and attack with equal ferocity his more 

 civilized brother of the Western countries. The mosquito is no re- 

 specter of persons, boundary lines or races. It is an undesirable 

 inhabitant of the earth, and furthermore it is an unnecessary one 



Why Mosquito Extermination Was First Attempted 



Means of controlling the mosquito perhaps would not have been 

 discovered had it not been for the same underlying cause that bring? 

 to light so many great facts, namely, the saving of human life. The 

 mosquito as a pest might be tolerated, the mosquito as a spreader 

 of disease and death must be eradicated. Such was the conclusion 

 reached by the United States government when, at the time of the 

 construction of the Panama Canal, it was conclusively proven that 

 the mosquito and the mosquito alone was responsible for the trans- 

 mission of the disease of malaria. Likewise, during the Spanish- Ameri- 



