| NEW JERSEY 
AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATIONS 
BULLETIN 300 
JUNE 1, 1916 
A BIOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE MORE IMPORTANT OF 
THE FISH ENEMIES OF THE SALT-MARSH 
MOSQUITOES 1 
by 
F. Ki. Chidester, Ph. D. 
INTRODUCTION 
The mosquito has a long list of natural enemies and if the exact 
standing of each were well understood it is possible that some of the 
more important might be artificially encouraged to a point where 
their warfare on the mosquito would prove the most efficient factor 
in its satisfactory control. With this in mind the writer was invited 
to examine the possibilities of certain fishes already known as mos 
quito destroyers. The study was begun September 19, 1914 and 
continued for a little over one year. 
The study consisted of making collections of fishes throughout 
the vear with records of tides, salinity, specific gravity and tempera- 
ture of the waters in which they were taken: a study of the stomachs 
of samples from the collections; experiments on the resistance of the 
fishes to high concentrations of salts; experiments on the effect of 
highly concentrated sea water on the development of the embryos; 
and many feeding experiments, using mosquito larve, Dytiscus. 
daphnids and other known food of the killifishes. These experiments 
were supplements by other experiments on the importance of the 
water tiger (Dytiscus) and the tadpoles of several species of frogs 
as mosquito larve exterminators. The last named group of expert- 
ments will be elsewhere discussed. 
ENEMIES OF THE MosQuIto 
In outlining the problem, it was found desirable to prepare a 
list of the animals recognized as foes of the mosquitoes, and with 
1 Contributions from the entomological laboratory; Thomas J. 
Headlee, Ph. D., Entomologist. 
