410 MOSQUITOES OF NORTH AMERICA 
tributed. They had proved very effective destroyers of mosquito larve and also 
of mosquito egg-masses. Later advices show that the good work is continuing 
and that the experiment has been a great success. 
FISHES IN THE WEST INDIES. 
Girardinus peciloides, a small top minnow, occurs very abundantly in Bar- 
bados, where it is known by the popular name “ Millions.” This fish is very 
small in size, the full-grown females measuring about 1} inches in length, while 
the male is much smaller. The female is dull in color, without conspicuous 
markings, while the male is marked with irregular red splotches and has a 
circular dark spot on each side. The fish is a rapid breeder and thrives and 
multiplies in captivity, in water tanks, reservoirs and fountains, and garden 
tubs in which aquatic plants are kept. They are much used in this way, both in 
the towns and on the estates, to reduce the annoyance of mosquitoes. In 1905 
this fish was introduced by the Imperial Department of Agriculture of the 
British West Indies from Barbados into St. Kitts, Nevis and Antigua. In 1906 
it was introduced into Jamaica, and in 1908 into St. Vincent, St. Lucia and the 
city of Guayaquil in Eucador. An account of these introductions is given in a 
pamphlet entitled “ Millions and Mosquitos,” by H. A. Ballou, issued in 1908 
by the Imperial Department of Agriculture of the West Indies (No. 55). In 
August, 1905, a number of fish were sent to Antigua in a kerosene tin. They 
arrived in good condition and were kept in a tank at the Botanic Station until 
they had sufficiently increased to be distributed. They were liberated in several 
ponds and streams and increased so rapidly that the Country Board of Health 
undertook the work of stocking all the ponds and streams of the Island. Three 
years after the first introduction all of the more or less permanent water of 
Antigua had been stocked, and Mr. Ballou states that many planters and others 
have commented on the evident abatement of the mosquito nuisance in many 
localities. At St. Kitts, the introduction was equally successful, but the local 
government did not take up the distribution of the fish as in Antigua. In 
Jamaica they were established with good results. Millions may be fed in 
captivity on mosquito eggs and larve, on raw beef or hard-boiled eggs, upon 
small insects of any kind, and even upon cornmeal. They are readily trans- 
ported short distances in a kerosene tin, with no other preparation than a wire 
netting arranged near the top to prevent the fish from being thrown out if the 
water is splashed about. 
The success of these West Indian experiments attracted the attention of the 
sanitary authorities at the Isthmus of Panama, and some “ millions” were in- 
troduced into the Isthmus for the purpose of eating mosquito larve. Similar, 
and perhaps also the same species, already occurred on the Isthmus, but, never- 
theless, the experiment was an interesting one. Under date of March 12, 1910, 
Colonel Gorgas, Chief Sanitary Officer, wrote one of us, as follows: 
“ Yours of March 1st is acknowledged. We brought over some of the minnows 
from the Barbados and have been breeding them here for the last year. We have 
also found some Girardinus peciloides in the ponds and streams here that do 
