SIGNIFICANCE OF STEGOMYIA FASCIATA IN WEST AFRICA. 



235 



the compound cleared ; and this invariably discloses a large number of 

 receptacles containing stagnant water and harbouring innumerable larv?e. 



In addition to the examination o£ the yard, the interior of the house must 

 not be overlooked, for it is quite a common occurrence to find the larva3 of 

 Stegomyia in collections o£ water allowed to remain stagnant in the house ; 

 for example, in flower vases, saucers of flower pots, glasses employed for 

 striking cuttings of the croton plant, water ewers, indoor water cisterns, fire 

 buckets, etc. I have found the larvse on more than one occasion in the water 

 used for cooling the irons in a blacksmith^s shop. 



The abundance or otherwise of the Stegomyia rnay be influenced by the 

 nature of the occupation of the towns-people. In a fishing village or where 

 canoes are abundant, enormous numbers of larvae are frequently harboured 

 in the rain water which collects in the canoes. If there is much cooperage 





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Border of inverted bottles round a flower-bed ; a favourite breeding place for 

 Stegomyia fasciata. 



rainwater often collects on the upturned bottoms of the barrels and harliours 

 larvae ; in some villages, conch or snail shells are abundant, and these contain 

 hirvse ; in other places calabashes or cocoanut husks abound. In Belize, 

 British Honduras, I found vast numbers of larvae in the irregular depressions 

 and forks in the logs of logwood piled up on the wharf ready for the 

 steamer ; the purple, almost black-coloured, water in the holes did not in the 

 least affect the larvae. Then, again, everv countrv has its own special receptacles 



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