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IV. BREEDING-PLACES OF MOSQUITOES IN BATHURST 
The various breeding-places of mosquitoes which occur in Bathurst can be very 
suitably grouped under two heads, namely, natural and artificial. The latter are by far 
the most numerous and important, as many of them occur throughout the wet and dry 
season, while for at least six months of the year the natural breeding-places have ceased to 
exist. The following are the chief artificial breeding-places of mosquitoes in Bathurst: — 
1. — Canoes, boats, lighten, and cutters on the foreshore. The making of boats 
appears to be a rather extensive industry amongst the natives at Bathurst ; the boats 
are constructed or repaired on the foreshore, in front of Wellington Street. There 
is always a large number of these boats lying on the beach ; some of them have been 
found unfit for repairs and are discarded, others are waiting their turn, it may be, for 
some weeks, and still others are present waiting to be launched. These canoes and 
boats collect rain-water, and in the larger boats the amount of water present is very 
considerable, and often lasts not only between the showers but for a long time after 
the rains have ceased. In one old boat I found water present four weeks after the 
last shower in October. In many of the boats the water was from one to two feet 
deep. On examination, as would naturally be expected, I found these boats almost 
universally infested with mosquito larvae. From a rough estimation I made 
I calculated that each of these boats would produce two thousand 
mosquitoes per week ; fifty boats of all kinds producing this quantity 
of mosquitoes is a total of one hundred thousand insects per week 
distributed into the town. It will be seen, therefore, that these boats provide 
excellent and very extensive breeding-places for mosquitoes throughout the wet season 
and for a portion of the dry. There is no doubt that the houses in Wellington 
Street derive most of their mosquitoes from these artificial breeding-grounds. The 
mosquitoes found breeding in these boats were, in order of frequency : — 
Stegomyia fasciata 
Anopheles costalis 
Culex duttoni 
Stegomyia albocephala 
Culex tigripens 
2. — The Street Drains. The street drains carrying off surface water have been 
described as running down the centres of the streets. They can conveniently be 
arranged under three heads with regard to their capacity for acting as suitable breeding- 
places for mosquitoes. 
(a) The large main channels (three to six feet deep by six feet wide), which 
open into the river at the sluice gates. These drains occur in Hill Street, 
Alglesea Street, Picton Street, Blucher Street, and the large drain on one 
