xiv INTRODUCTION 



of the Government of Bombay in April 1876, and 

 served in Kharaghoda (the Dustypore of the Tribes), 

 Uran, North Kanara and Goa Frontier, Ratnagin, 

 and Bombay itself. In May, 1903, he was appointed 

 Chief Collector of Customs and Salt Revenue at 

 Karachi, and in November, 1905, was made Superin- 

 tendent in charge of the District Gazetteer of 

 Sind. He retired from the service in August 1906. 



He married in 1883 the daughter of the Rev. J. 

 Chalmers Blake, and left a family of two sons and 

 three daughters. 



In 1902 he was deputed, on special duty, to in- 

 vestigate the prevalence of malaria at the Customs 

 stations along the frontier of Goa, and to devise 

 means for removing the Salt Peons at these posts, 

 from the neighbourhood of the anopheles mosquito, 

 by that time recognised as the cause of the deadly 

 malaria, which made service on that frontier 

 dreaded by all. 



It was during this expedition that he discovered 

 a new species of anopheline mosquito, which after 

 identification by Major James, I. M.S., was named 

 after him Anopheles aitkeni. During his long service 

 there are to be found in the Annual Reports of the 

 Customs Department frequent mention of Mr. 

 Aitken's good work, but it is doubtful whether 

 the Government ever fully realised what an able 

 literary man they had in their service, wasting his 

 talent in the Salt Department. On two occasions 

 only did congenial work come to him in the course 



