28 Proceedings of Ninth Annuai, Mee:ting . 



the Method of Carrying on and the Results of Locally Sup- 

 ported Campaigns." 



The word "co-operation" is used so often nowadays and so 

 carelessly that one hesitates to employ it. And yet in mosquito 

 control work in its truest sense it is so essential to the achieve- 

 ment of success that it is hard to apply a synonym with better 

 effect. The value of system, organization and co-ordination 

 has been and is constantly being demonstrated in our national, 

 political, and domestic life. The Allied Army in the recent 

 Great War affords a striking example. Occasionally a man 

 plays a lone hand and wins. But to do so he must be a genius 

 and the genius is still as rare as we hope some day to make the 

 mosquito. The average mosquito fighter of to-day is not of 

 the genius class and if he attempts to go it alone his chances of 

 winning are small. 



And why? Because although no one has yet been able to 

 find a real reason for the mosquito and although many insist that 

 this insect, with the painfully penetrating proboscis was a mis- 

 take, the fact undeniably remains that she is one of nature's 

 children and as such entitled to and receiving Dame Nature's 

 astute protection. And so, when man declares that the "Mos- 

 quito is an unnecessary pest" and ''That the mosquito must go" 

 he is challenging nature and the elements to battle and it be- 

 hooves him to enter the fray not alone, but backed by a vast 

 force of loyal, well-trained followers lest he be daunted and dis- 

 couraged before the fight is really well under way. 



I beHeve it was Addison that remarked on the instinct of 

 animals and what a peculiar and wonderful thing it was,. The 

 writer is not sure whether it is correct to refer to the mosquito 

 as an animal. If not, Dr. Headlee will doubtless append a 

 foot-note in the printed proceedings so that no reader will be 

 seriously misled. But whether the analogy holds or not the 

 mosquito is surely a creature of instinct. Anyone who has had 

 experience in actual field work and found mosquitoes breeding 

 in all sorts of impossible places will corroborate the statement. 



Now this may all seem irrelevant and beside the subject but 

 it is not. It is because the mosquito is a canny insect clinging 

 closely to the only law it knows — that of self-preservation^ — ^that 

 its extermination is so doubtful and its control so difficult. How 

 do you get rid of mosquitoes? By locating all places in which 

 they breed and treating each place according to its peculiar needs. 

 Sounds easy. But we have been ten years or more putting the 

 theory into practice and although we have made great progress 

 we are not yet ready to cry ''Excelsior." And we will not be 



