DAHLGREN, THE MALARIA MOSQUITO 4o 



culosis, cholera and typhoid fever. The house-fly breeds in decaying 



matter, and its habits are so filthy, that even if for no _ _ 



The House-fly 

 other than esthetic reasons, it should be the first object of 



the general war on pestiferous insects, begun long ago by the agricul- 

 turists for economic reasons, but now become also a problem of sanitary 

 importance for which communities and governments will be compelled 

 to spend great sums of money. 



Mosqu ito Exterm motion . 



The study of disease-producing parasites and of the insects concerned 

 in their transmission is not only indicating rational procedures for the 

 extermination of the latter, but also, as in the case of Preventive and 



yellow fever, furnishing a scientific basis for such quar- Quarantine 



i ,• Measures 



antme and preventive measures as are at present 



carried out by the United States Government in Panama, and to some 

 extent by modern nations everywhere. The far-reaching effect of 

 such discoveries as those described above is difficult to estimate. 

 The stimulus which they have given to research has already proved to 

 be of vast moment. The practical results in tropical countries and 

 colonizing nations will grow, as distant and hitherto almost uninhabit- 

 able parts of the world are opened up. In our own immediate neighbor- 

 hood they have led to a campaign of extermination against the Malaria 

 Mosquito, anil indirectly have served to call public attention to the whole 

 tribe of these insects, which, even though they may not all spread human 

 diseases, nevertheless constitute a pernicious pest which renders large 

 areas unfit for habitation. When we consider that within a radius of 

 twenty-five miles of Xew York there exist two hundred square miles of 



marsh and swamp land, 1 the local mosquito problem alone 



11 1 .iff • • -fi I. c i • The local 



will be seen to be tar from insignificant. Such a campaign problem 



of extermination of mosquitoes as is now being waged in the 



State of New Jersey under the supervision of Professor Smith would 



have been considered before the time of the discoveries of Ross and 



Finlay, not only extravagant, but really insane. 



When the problem of mosquito extermination on a large scale, first 



presented itself, it became, of course, necessary to devise effective means 



'Felt: Mosquitoes of Xew York State, New York State Museum Bulletin 79, 

 p. 244. 1901. 



