30 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



The flight of mosquitoes is of considerable importance in con- 

 trol work, and with the exception of the salt marsh mosquito and 

 some of its less important associates, most mosquitoes breed in the 

 near vicinity of places where they are abundant, although this is by 

 no means invariable, since there are records of even the house 

 mosquito drifting or flying well toward a mile from a particular 

 breeding place. The mere presence of numerous mosquitoes does 

 not necessarily imply breeding places in the inmiediate vicinity at 

 that time, since some mosquitoes are rather long-lived and may per- 

 sist for some time after the temporarj' breeding pools in which the 

 larvae lived have disappeared. It is possible to trace the flight of 

 mosquitoes, and under certain conditions important because of its 

 bearing upon local control work. Staining adults is a. very con- 

 venient method, and for this purpose aqueous solutions of eosin, 

 fuchsin, gentian-violet, Bismark-brown, methylene blue and orange- 

 G. may be used in a dilution of about i gram to 50. Stain in the 

 evening about 2 hours before the mosquitoes are released, applying 

 just enough so that it will quickly dr\- and not saturate the insects. 

 The stained individuals are best recovered in buildings by hand and 

 trapped elsewhere.'^' The weather, direction of wind, topography, 

 etc.. all have an influence on the movement of insects and should 

 be given due consideration. 



The screening of houses, tents, etc., for the exclusion of mos- 

 quitoes and the use of repellant materials are purely temporar}' and 

 should be considered simply as desirable first aids. 



Satisfactor}- mosquito control, broadly speaking, means the 

 elimination of breeding places, and in this imdertaking a rigid at- 

 tention to details is necessary. The apparently unimportant and 

 usually . overlooked breeding places are those most likely to be 

 troublesome. The small pool is more dangerous than the pond or 

 lake, and the isolated collection of water beside a stream is fully as 

 likelv to produce troublesome mosquitoes as the permanent pools of 

 a swamp. The mud holes in roads (especially if not constantly 

 traversed). the stagnant^ -water of roadside ditches, and even the 

 collections of water in the hoof-prints of animals, or in vacant lots, 

 are ver\- likely to produce numerous mosquitoes. The rain barrels 

 and wash tubs so frequently used to collect water from roofs, and 

 the much smaller quantities found in rejected containers such as 

 old firkins, tin cans, etc., may produce bloodthirsty hordes. Water 

 in cisterns, in sewer catch-basins, and nearly stagnant pools in 

 sluggish streams are all favorite breeding places. 



Zetek. Ent. Soc. Amer. Ann.. 6:14-15. 1913- 



