MANSONIA PERTUKBANS 509 



" At 7 : 35 or 7 : 30 of that day I was there with net and lantern. The day was 

 rapidly fading into night. Peace, quiet, and absolute silence. Not an insect in 

 sight. At 7 : 40 p. m. the whip-poor-will gave its call, and then the fun began, 

 fast, fierce, and furious ; 35 minutes gave 328 and the next 35 minutes gave 72 

 more, or a collection of 300 perlturbansl in 50 minutes, 7 : 40 p. m. on — an un- 

 broken record, I guess. The collected results plus twelve pages of notes and 

 reasons for spot selection were duly sent in to friend Smith. Previously, owing 

 to press of business, and unable to come personally, he solicited permission to 

 send his understudy to Lahaway. The man was a stranger to me, but, being 

 good-natured, permission was granted. On receipt of 300 friend Smith sent 

 him on, arriving at Lahaway July 31, 1907, where he was taken in as a guest. 

 Eemained two or three days, during which I taught, him considerable he never 

 knew before, about the C[orethrella] Irakeleyi and your [Culexl melanurus. 

 (You see. Dr., I have a little 18 by 30 inch hole where I always keep mel. in 

 stock. Pact!) 



"July 31, after dinner, I took the young gentleman in charge, not as a ' pond 

 pointer ' but as an educator. In the eompend, copied from the account I sent 

 in at the time, you will see how the first perturbans egg-boat ever found in nature 

 was located. Curious how things happen, and luckily, too. Our argument was 

 over Anopheles, and on Mr. G.'s attempt to prove he could collect Anopheles 

 wrigglers from a pool that J. T. B. said no, resulted not in the collection of the 

 Anopheles larvae sought, but in the discovery and location of the first perturbans 

 egg-boat in nature. One of those lucky incidents that happen now and then; 

 the only spot on the place I can find that they breed to maturity. Of course 

 there may be other spots, but if so they are imdiscoverable by J. T. B. 



" As Mr. G. has published, you have the facts of what he got here. The egg- 

 boat collecting ended the trail, which was again lost. Priend Smith thought it 

 best to let the search for larvae go over until fall, to which I assented, and it was 

 agreed that in the fall, after the Lahaway cranberry crop picking was out of the 

 way, he should come, and the pool was to be pumped out to locate the lost trail. 

 To save the pool from a pump-out, it occurred to me, why not try to relocate the 

 lost trail myself ? After some ponderation, concluded that the simplest line of 

 hunting was the best ; that there was no complexity about it, and, as I said at the 

 time ' when the trail is discovered it will be so absolutely simple that we will 

 kick ourselves for not finding it before.' As near as I now remember, I rea- 

 soned that at some period in their existence the larvae must either come to the top 

 of the water, or live on the bottom, and if neither, must be in the bottom. Dur- 

 ing picking [of the cranberry crop], having a leisure hour or so, in the last week 

 of September, 1907, I proceeded to test my ideas. Top dipping showed no 

 result. Bottom dipping showed no result. That left as a final ' in the bottom.' 

 Now the easiest way to get at 'in the bottom' was to ]ust pull a plant (which 

 would give the bottom), wash it, and examine. The alleged J. T. B. luck came 

 in, in that the first plant pulled gave results and the lost trail was discovered. 



" And that is how J. T. B. hit the trail and was the first human being to see 

 an undiscovered and advanced form of the larva of the Ctilex perturbans. Did 

 enough of it to be sure I had hit the * key ' of the business, wrote out the J. T. B. 

 process, and sent the ' key ' to friend Smith, telling him to take it to White City, 

 unlock the door, enter in, and take possession. And he did." 



Dr. Dyar has observed the occurrence of the species at Dublin, New Hamp- 

 shire. We quote his remarks as follows : 



" The locality in question is a small pond, the source of a small stream. The 

 pond has stony shores and was evidently formerly of some depth. It is now 

 bordered with woods and has been extensively filled by leaves and mud. It is 

 also at least half overgrown with a layer of grass, interspersed with small bushes 



