
AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS 

Those who would control injurious insects should use a combina- 
tion of common sense and knowledge of the insects’ habits. It 
should not be necessary to mention the second factor, for common 
sense would point out the necessity of such knowledge, except that 
so many otherwise sensible people pick up a smattering of entomol- 
ogy and straightway feel competent to handle the complicated 
problems presented in nature. No important piece of work should 
be undertaken without expert help. On the other hand, mere 
knowledge of the insect’s habits is not sufficient, as has been shown 
by some utterly impractical methods of control which have been 
suggested. The notes which have been given here on the habits of 
mosquitoes are the merest outlines and, furthermore, refer chiefly to 
those species which seriously trouble man. 
The most fundamental of all measures of protection is the 
removal of the original source of all mosquito breeding, accumula- 
tions of stagnant or sluggishly moving water. The particular measures 
adopted must vary widely with the type of mosquito to be dealt 
with. Along the shores of the eastern United States, for example, 
the salt-marsh mosquito, Culex sollicitans, furnishes one of the most 
important problems from the standpoint of nuisance, although this 
species is not a carrier of disease. The salt-marsh areas and the 
neighboring country may be kept reasonably free from mosquitoes 
by the construction of comprehensive systems of drainage ditches 
which keep down the water level of the land adjacent and are them- 
selves flushed out by the tide. Fresh water swamps and pools where 
species of Anopheles breed may be treated in a similar way or in 
some cases may more economically be filled in. 
In dealing with the common malarial mosquito of the central 
United States, Anopheles quadrimaculatus, special attention must be 
devoted to sluggish streams clogged with vegetable growth. If such 
streams are straightened and cleared of weeds their rapid flow will 
no longer be suitable for mosquito breeding. On the other hand 
the Culex pipiens and Aédes calopus are house mosquitoes, and the 
most important measure in checking these insects is the removal of 
small accumulations of stagnant water in the immediate neighbor- 
hood of habitations. Such inconspicuous breeding places may 
produce in the aggregate great numbers of mosquitoes; and every 
anti-mosquito campaign must include provision for systematic house- 
to-house inspection if it is to be successful. 
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