The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-08-01
A RIVAL OF THE MOSQUITO.
Unknown Insect Invndes n Nevv Jer-
sey Town.


PHILADELPHIA Aug. IA peculiar
/ insect. Of species almost wholly un-
I known to naturalists hereab bouts. except
| that its home is believed 10 De in a tropI-
+ cal CLINE. recently had a. brief but none
{ the less noteworthy, stay at Laurel
/ Springs. one Of New Jerseys weil-knowu
I scttIems nts within ten miles Of PhiladeI-
phia, On the Atlantic City line of the
} Reading Railroad. Ir-lEne IN the night
3 both literally and Eguratively speaking
and made its presence kuUWu-nOt its DIP
/ pearance, because il could barely be seen
by the naked eye-by attacking the resi-
dents and visitors and leaving uncom-
Portable and annoying flesh wounds
somewhat like the bites Of mosquitoes At
first its manifestations on the body were
regarded AS something akin 20 the rash
and no particular attention was paid 20
its presence except by those suffering
from its attack. Finally the complaints
from those staying al the Laurel liza be-
came SO general that the authoritles were
called iu % make an investigation
Samuel s Cord, General Manager Of the
Laurel Springs Realty Company. realizing
that drastic measures must be taken. Sc
cured the services Of Dr. Hurt of the
Health Board. and Of DR.. Wright. physi-
clans in Gloucester township. As most of
the complaints came from the inn. a thor
Uugh inspection was made Of that build
iuE. AT first the searChers were bafled ia
their attempt 10 discover the cause Of the
complaints They found many insects pc
cuiiar 10 such resorts throughout the
East, but 20 none Of them could the com
plants OF the residents be traced. When
the search had been all but given up. one
OF the physicians. in looking at picture
in one Of the rooms TO which his artistic
eye had been drawn. noticed a small red
speck moving rapidly across the glass.
With the sharp end Of "a toothpick ne i'm
paled the object, and after a microscope
cal inspection the cause of all the trouble
was known 10 have been found
So small was the insect and so impor-
taut was the question Of getting thor
ougnly rid of IL that every room in the
house-and the inn contains some forty OF
them, all recently newly fitted up-was
stripped entirely of all fits furnishings.
even 70 scraping of the paper on the
wall The rooms were then made air
tight, end formaldehyde in the form Of
gas was forced into them through the
keyholes After this had been done. the
same chemical solution ia the form of
liquid, was used in washing the watus-
3
ments- 1t is believed that the small but
pestiferous invader has now been con-
Qutred.
When the first insect was discovered
the physicians began 70 watch for its APP
pcarancr ON any persons that complained
/ of suffering from its bites. Its favorite
time OF attack seemed TO Doe at night,
when "a person was asleep. The wound IN
hcttd. as has been said, resembled that
resulting from a mosquito bite. except
IN every case the iEsec: died soon after
the attack. Ia some cases IL was found
. In the wound itself. in others u was dis
covered aI inch OF SO from the bite. al
ways under the skip and always resem-
/ bling a very small ,red spot on the sur
face. It never attacked ne face or hands.
but always some part of the body pro-
/ tected by the clothing
All speCulatiCns as 10 what the insect IS
and where 10 came from have not resulted
IN amy satisfactory conclusion among the
investigators Naturalists from Phiiadel-
phla. particularly from the Academy OF
Natural Science. visited abe place ana saw
the insect but, IL Is said, could give no
name t. II nor any idea Of what II was
except that 81 was of a tropical SeCleS;
II was hardly discCrniBge 20 the naked
eye, bat when placed under the micro
scope was seen 20 have crab-llke APP