Proceedings of Seventh Annual Meeting 45 



CATCH-BASINS 



Another of our liabilities and one that cannot be eliminated because 

 it is a part of civilization, is the street corner receiving-basin, which 

 in past years has proven a prolific pipiens breeder. We have within 

 our territory about nine-hundred such basins. In former years the 

 method of control was inspection and where breeding was found, 

 the oil can was used. This was on the hit-or-miss plan, and did 

 not give the necessary results. 



The plan adopted in 1919 was that of listing and routing all 

 catch-basins which were sprayed with fuel oil every ten days, irre- 

 spective of whether breeding was found or not. This method gave 

 results that were as near 100 per cent efficiency as it was possible 

 to get in this part of the work. 



THE PASSAIC RIVER 



A problem in mosquito-control work without any known solution 

 that would eventually eliminate it is a perplexing one. This is the 

 condition we are confronted with on that part of the Passaic River 

 which lies within our territory north of the Dundee Dam, and com- 

 prises an area of 350 acres of almost stagnant water surcharged with 

 domestic sewage and manufacturing waste, to a density of pollution 

 carried by no other river in the United States. This state of pollu- 

 tion seems to have an attraction for mosquito propagation that is 

 unbelievable, except by daily contact with the work of mosquito 

 control. The potentiality of this part of the Passaic River as a 

 breeder during the summer months when the river is at its lowest 

 flow requires ''watchful waiting" and quick action with the oil can. 



A few years ago, I listened to the reading of a paper on the status 

 of mosquito control in which the Passaic River was described as 

 smiling. I am under the impression that the gentleman who wrote 

 the paper meant smelling. I have traveled up and down the banks 

 of the Passaic River for a good many years, and I have never seen it 

 smile, but I have heard it smell in a very loud voice. 



MORRIS canal 



Another problem similar to that of the Passaic River is a new and 

 serious factor in mosquito propagation caused by the condition dur- 

 ing the past summer of the Morris Canal, which runs through our 



