258 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Methods of control. Mosquitos have been tolerated from time 

 immemorial. It was a supposed impossibility to do more than 

 to exclude the little pests from dwellings. Abating such a nuis- 

 ance appears to be a herculean task at first sight, but study and 

 experience have demonstrated that it is eminently practical to 

 reduce the numbers of these insects very materially. There are 

 two important phases to this problem : one, the destruction of 

 domestic species which enter our houses, certain forms of which 

 are capable of conveying malaria to their victims, and the an- 

 nihilation of the many swarms bred along seashores and other 

 places more or less remote from the habitations of man. These 

 two problems have this in common, that they aim to destroy 

 insects, but the methods of accomplishing the desired end in one 

 case is quite different from that in the other. 



Destruction of semidomestic species. The semidomestic species 

 include such forms as Anopheles, Culex pipiens and a few 

 other house species. These insects possess limited powers of 

 flight, and as a consequence those troublesome about a house 

 are bred near by, in many cases within 200 yards, and some- 

 times within 25 feet of the dwelling. Our main object in the 

 fight against these species is to abolish favorable breeding places 

 in the immediate vicinity. This means that a most careful watch 

 must be kept for uncovered rain barrels, partly open cisterns and 

 cesspools or near-by hollows which may hold water for a short 

 time, broken crockery, tin cans and any other debris, which may 

 afford the necessary conditions for the existence of larvae. Such 

 a campaign calls for the minutest scrutiny of all likely and even 

 unlikely places, to see that they do not supply conditions favor- 

 able for developing mosquitos. Drainage has a prominent part, 

 particularly in low places, because we know of instances where 

 houses cover standing water, but in the State at large this is 

 hardly true, and fair drainage prevails. The appearance of con- 

 siderable numbers of these mosquitos about a dwelling is almost 

 proof that there is a breeding place in the immediate vicinity, 

 and the owner, if he objects to the pests, can do no better than to 

 search for and do away with them in some way or another, either 



