MOSQUITO-DESTROYING FISH 407 
other than the mosquito. The black-banded sunfish, M esogonistius chetodon, 
would also be desirable for this purpose, if they were not so difficult to obtain in 
large numbers. One or both species of Enneacanthus can be found wherever 
there are aquatic plants. The above-mentioned five species in combination seem 
to be the most suitable for pond protection of all those which are known to 
thrive in still water, and which in any degree possess the desired qualities. As 
has been stated, the killifishes would probably be found to be undesirable. In 
their natural habitat, the tidal streams and great expanses of small marsh, their 
efficiency is unquestioned. 
“There are many places at the seashore where there are swales or hollows 
filled with grasses and bushes, which in periods of rainfall become breeding 
places for the mosquito, especially of Anopheles. If these places are stocked with 
fish, the result is that when they dry up the fish perish, and the operation must 
be repeated after each filling. 
“ The writer has suggested digging holes about four feet square down through 
the turf into the sand stratum in the deepest part. Two feet is usually sufficient 
to secure a constant water supply where the fish can exist until the hollow is again 
rain-filled. Cyprinodon and Lucania would be desirable for such places, and 
they are to be found everywhere in the ditches and tide pools on the flats. 
“To add variety to the treatment of the subject, it might not be amiss to 
suggest that there is a fish, Anablops, inhabiting the fresh waters of South 
America, which seems to be specially adapted to this purpose. To quote: ‘ These 
small fishes swim at the surface of the water, feeding on insects, the eye being 
divided by a horizontal partition into a lower portion for water use, and a portion 
for seeing in the air.’ ” 
Acting largely upon Mr. Seal’s advice, Doctor John B. Smith, the State 
Entomologist of New Jersey, with Mr. Seal’s help, in November, 1905, brought 
Gambusia affinis and Heterandria formosa from North Carolina into New 
Jersey, which were distributed as follows: 8000 in spring and natural drainage 
rivulets flowing into the ice pond at Westville, N. J., 600 in a landlocked pond 
near Delanco, 600 in a mill pond between Merchantville and Evesboro, 600 in 
landlocked waters near Delair, and 400 in ponds of the Aquarium Supply Co., 
at Delair. In Doctor Smith’s report for the year 1906, it was stated that the 
experiment was in large part a failure. Whether it was due to the destruc- 
tion of the introduced fish by black bass, pike, yellow perch and sunfish, or 
whether because of other enemies, or because of their dislike to their changed 
conditions they found their way during the spring rains to rivulets flowing to 
the Delaware River, or whether they escaped in other ways, could not be told. 
In hie report for 1907, however, Doctor Smith states that the Gambusia was 
found in large numbers in Teal’s Branch of Pond Creek, a small tributary of 
Delaware Bay at Higbee’s Beach, by Mr. Henry W. Fowler, of the Academy of 
Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, and Messrs. H. Walker Hand and O. H. Brown. 
These gentlemen found it also very abundant in New England Creek, another 
tributary of Delaware Bay just north. Doctor Smith states that Mr. Seal was 
inclined to claim that this finding was the result of his work in 1905, but that 
Mr. Fowler doubted this conclusion since the points where found were 90 miles 
distant from points of introduction. 
Although the opinions of Mr. W. P. Seal, here quoted, are authoritative, it 
may not be out of place at this point to quote the interesting account by F. EH. 
