PETROLEUM PRODUCTS FOR MOSQUITO 
CONTROL 1 
By JOSEPH M. GINSBURG 
DEPARTMENT OF ENTOMOLOGY, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY, NEW JERSEY AGRICULTURAL 
EXPERIMENT STATION, NEW BRUNSWICK, N. J. 
WILLEM RUDOLFS 
DEPARTMENT OF WATER SUPPLIES AND SEWAGE DISPOSAL, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY, NEW JERSEY 
AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION, NEW BRUNSWICK, N. J. 
Where permanent mosquito control, such 
as drainage and filling-in low areas, is 
either not possible or uneconomical, larvi- 
cides may be employed. Of the various 
chemicals tested for this purpose, petro¬ 
leum oil, on account of its low cost and 
spreading properties on water surfaces is 
largely utilized for killing the aquatic forms 
of most species of mosquitoes, including 
Anopheles. That oils kill mosquito larvae 
and pupae has been known long before ma¬ 
larial control encouraged mosquito oper¬ 
ations. It was not, however, until the ex¬ 
periments of Howard became known (1892, 
1901) that their practical application was 
developed throughout the world. Since 
then many scientific workers have made re¬ 
searches in various mosquito oil problems, 
such as: (a) toxicology of petroleum oils; 
(b) amount of oil required to produce a 
killing film; (c) lasting properties of oil 
films; (d) efficiency of various oil larvi- 
cides; (e) injurious effects of petroleum 
oil to fish, water fowl, vegetation and man; 
(f) increasing toxicity, spreading and pene¬ 
tration of oils by incorporating various 
chemicals; (g) methods of application, and 
many others. 
Field workers engaged in malarial con¬ 
trol have used many kinds of petroleum 
products, including crude oil; various fuel 
oils, ranging from light distillates to heavy 
black oils; various waste oil products di¬ 
luted with other oils; larvicides prepared 
from mixtures of various petroleum prod¬ 
ucts with other toxic chemicals, etc. Con- 
1 Paper of the Journal Series, New Jersey Agri¬ 
cultural Experiment Station, Department of Ento¬ 
mology. 
tributions from scientific investigators and 
practical field workers have accumulated 
sufficient information to enable those in 
charge of anti-malarial operations to select 
an oil which is most efficient for their pur¬ 
pose. 
We have learned that the following prop¬ 
erties are desired in an ideal mosquito oil: 
(a) it should exhibit a high toxicity to 
larvae and pupae; (b) it should spread 
quickly and uniformly on all kinds of 
waters; (c) it should penetrate rapidly 
through debris and thick vegetation; (d) 
it should form a stable and long lasting 
film; (e) it should be non-offensive to man 
and non-injurious to fish, water fowl, and 
plant life; and (f) it should be low in cost. 
Of course, not all of the enumerated char¬ 
acteristics are essential for all mosquito 
breeding waters. In certain areas, subject 
to intermittent flooding, long lasting prop¬ 
erties are of no consequence. In other 
places, plant injury may offer no objection¬ 
able feature or may even prove beneficial. 
Nevertheless, certain specifications are ab¬ 
solutely indispensable for a satisfactory 
mosquito oil regardless of either the kind 
of breeding place or the mosquito species 
involved. These are: (1) toxicity; (2) 
spreading; (3) penetration into larval tra¬ 
cheae and (4) stability of film. 
Toxicity 
Petroleum is a very complex mixture of 
hydrocarbons and other groups of com¬ 
pounds from which numerous products are 
manufactured, ranging from thick, black 
oil to colorless, harmless medicinal oil. 
Each product has distinct properties and 
