Proceedings of Seventh Annual Meeting 



73 



early in the season and continued throughout, and the mosquito pest 

 on uplands adjacent for many miles was most severe. 



I think it can safely be said that about three-fourths of the popula- 

 tion of the state, as a result of the work above outlined, were offered 

 a material degree of protection from the pest. This protection over 

 large areas was practically perfect. 



PROBLEMS FOR THE COMING YEAR ' 



The large increase in the cost of labor and materials has made it 

 necessary, if any substantial progress in the direction of complete 

 elimination is to be made, to obtain an increase of the funds available 

 for anti-mosquito work. Boards of freeholders in the counties 

 where work is going on, realizing this situation, have increased the 

 appropriations to a point where they are practically 20 per cent larger 

 for 1920 than they were in 1919. This increase is not commensurate 

 with the increased cost of operation, but will go far toward enabling 

 the local anti-mosquito organizations to meet their inspection, tem- 

 porary elimination and maintenance problems, and at the same time 

 permit them to accomplish a very considerable amount of permanent 

 new drainage work. 



The problem of securing larvicides for the work of 1920 promises 

 to become acute. The difficulty with which supplies of coal could 

 be obtained for manufacturing and its high cost have led large num- 

 bers of industrial concerns to substitute fuel oil for coal as a source 

 of power. Furthermore, the large number of oil-burning ocean- 

 going vessels have made further demands upon the fuel-oil supplies. 

 The situation has become so acute that not only must we anticipate 

 a large increase in the price, but also extreme difficulty in securing 

 the necessary supply at any price. In view of this situation, further 

 experimental work must be done for the purpose of developing a 

 larvicide which may, in case of need, take the place of the use of oil 

 over a considerable percentage of the area under treatment. 



The constant shifting of the relative importance of various species 

 of mosquitoes clearly indicates that the biology of the mosquito group 

 is none too well understood. Furthermore, it is possible that an 

 investigation of the agency or agencies which attract the fnosquito 

 to man might reveal other methods of attacking the problem. In 

 view of this condition it is proposed by the State Experiment Station 

 to undertake further investigations of the life history of the various 

 species of mosquitoes, the underlying causes which govern their 

 movements and which attract them to human-kind. 



