MEDICAL SURVEY OF THE TOWN OF TAYTAY. 



VII. MOSQUITOES AND OTHER INSECTS. 



By Chaeles S. Banks. 



{From the Entomological Section of the Biological Laboratory, Bureau of 

 Science, Manila, P. 1.) 



In connection with the medical and sanitary investigations of tlie 

 town of Taytay, it was thought desirable to give some attention to the 

 mosquitoes and other insects found there -with a view of establishing, 

 if possible, the role that these pests now play in the transmission of 

 disease, the likelihood of their becoming important in the future and the 

 methods of dealing with them in this community or under similar 

 conditions in other communities. 



Taytay is situated in a fairly level plain, and hence there is almost 

 no possibility for the establishment of such a system of drainage as 

 M^ould make it perfectly free from stagnant or semistagnant water; and 

 even were the possibility of the installation of a drainage system to be 

 considered, we would still be confronted with the fact that the town is 

 in the center of a rice-growing district and the people depend largely 

 upon rice raising for their livelihood and food. Therefore Taytay must 

 always, during the rainy season, be surrounded by paddy fields which 

 offer the best possible breeding places for mosquitoes and flies. 



The streams, which practically surround the town, are never wliolly 

 dry at any season of the year and even at the height of the dry season 

 they are semistagnant and oifer excellent breeding places for mosquitoes. 

 The wells, of which there are some 14 or more in or near the town, 

 furnish still another breeding ground which, while not as productive as 

 those bodies of water that are nearer the surface, nevertheless add their 

 quota to the mosquito total of the town. 



It will be seen by reference to the map (Plate II) that a good sized 

 stream flows west of the town while another flows parallel with it through 

 tlie western edge of the town for its whole length, the two streams finally 

 Join at the southern border. Before they join three other streams flow 

 into the eastern one of these two, one from the east along the northern 



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