REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST I915 65 



At the inception of the work we made the following tentative 

 recommendations : 



Bum over the sedge and cat-tail areas in the winter so as to make 

 the swamps more open and facilitate cutting, if that be advisable, 

 the following season. 



Eliminate, so far as possible, the small, permanent pools in the 

 residential section. A very little filling will greatly reduce the pos- 

 sible breeding areas and much work of this character could legit- 

 imately be charged to real estate improvement rather than to mos- 

 quito control. 



Supplement the burning in winter by cutting the sedges and cat- 

 tails, so far as practical, the last week in May. 



Follow this up by oiling, using a fairly heavy fuel oil wherever 

 wrigglers appear to be abundant. 



By no means were all these recommendations adopted, though 

 some of the cat-tail areas were biirned, and in the vicinity of the 

 residential section there was more or less filling, nevertheless the 

 comparative freedom, from mosquitoes was apparent to all, and it 

 may be stated in general terms that the work was highly satisfactory 

 to those best situated to pass thereupon. 



BIOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS 

 BY E. P. FELT AND H. H. STAGE 



This portion of the work was based partly upon personal observa- 

 tions by the Entomologist and largely on the field work of the junior 

 author, who collected the specimens and transmitted them to the 

 office for identification, together with data respecting their occurrence 

 and abundance. 



The m.ost annoying species, as will be seen by referring to the 

 following accounts, are probably the irritating mosquito, M a n- 

 sonia perturbans Walk., the large meadow mosquito, Aedes 

 a b f i t c h i i Felt, the woodland pool mosquito, Aedes cana- 

 densis Theo. , and the swam.p mosquito, Aedes sylvestris 

 Theo., all forms likely to breed in numbers and become more or less 

 troublesom.e in and about dwellings. The golden-scaled mosquito, 

 Aedes aurifer Coq. , occurs in large numbers in woodland 

 swamps and fortunately rarely leaves its native haunts. Of the 

 long-tubed ro.osquitoes, the house m_osquito, Culex pipiens 

 Linn., and the little black mosquito, Culex territans Walk., 

 are probably the most important, though the white-dotted m.osquito, 

 Culex restuans Walk. , m.ay sometim.es be nearly as abundant 

 as the house mosquito. These three form.s breed in standing, 

 frequently artificial collections of water, though the little black 



