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PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. XIV, October I960 
1 78 °E 
Fig. I. Viti Levu, Fiji Islands. 
something unusual. Suva in particular suffered 
from prolific breeding in the coastal marshes 
some 2 mi. distant. In the Rewa delta, breeding 
was intense in the saline pools left actually 
within village boundaries by high spring tides. 
The infestation extended to the dry zone of Viti 
Levu, being confirmed from Nandi in March, 
1958, and near Lautoka in May, while an in- 
festation of plague intensity was found in the 
Mba delta in June, 1958 (Fig. 1). The inhabit- 
ants stated that this had started early in 1958. 
Thus, shortly after A. vigilax was discovered, 
it became a pest all round the island of Viti 
Levu, and its initial discovery near the flying- 
boat base at Lauthala Bay cannot be considered 
of much significance in deciding its point of 
introduction. Indeed, although specimens were 
not obtained near Nandi until March, 1958, 
there are circumstantial accounts of what was 
almost certainly A. vigilax in the area in Octo- 
ber, 1957, and possibly as early as May, 1957. 
The report originates from the Senior Mosquito 
Inspector now in charge. He says that when he 
arrived at Nandi in October, 1957, there were 
many complaints of daytime biting by mosqui- 
tos, which local informants alleged had started 
in May, 1957. He identified the mosquitos as 
Aedes vexans ( Theo. ) , with which A. vigilax 
is readily confused, especially if the presence of 
the latter is not suspected, although A. vexans 
rarely bites by day in Fiji. The infestation was 
traced to an extensive flooded area IV 2 mi. to 
the north of the airfield where the outlet of the 
Malika Creek (Fig. 1) had been blocked by a 
broken floodgate. The water was brackish and 
the Inspector was surprised to find great num- 
bers of what he took to be A. vexans larvae in 
this brackish water. Unfortunately he took no 
specimens at the time, but in March, 1958, he 
collected A. vigilax larvae in the same place. 
When I visited the area in June, 1958, the flood- 
gate was repaired and the ground was dry, but 
it was very similar in character to the places 
where A. vigilax larvae had first been reported 
near Suva. 
Retrospective reports made subsequent to 
the discovery of A. vigilax in Fiji should be 
carefully scrutinised before acceptance, but there 
