Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1902-05-24
NUrlBER 46.
THE MOSQUITO WAR.
Drainage and Fish the Best Methous
For Checking the Pest.

Drainage and ttsh the beSt "e'"
For Checking the Pest
The biological department OF the
Massachusetts Institute Of Technology
has been engaged the past winter, un-
der the direction OF Professor William
T. Sedgwick, in study Of the cohdl'
tions most favorable TO breeding mos
quitoes and Of the best way TO get RID
of these conditions. Heretofore the
use of kerosene oil sprayed on the sur
face Of the breeding pools has been tie
remedy most commonly employed. The
MOSQUITO larvae. thrusting their long
breathing tubes out of the water. take
in oil instead of air and are speeuliy
suffocated. 1t Is suggested b. Profess
or SedgwiclIs department. however,
that the use Of oil. while excellent Tor
the time being, Is only temporary
expedlent. after all. and that drainage
of swGmps in tie neighborhood OF
towns and cities and the stocking OK
ponds with certain varieties OF hsh
are the most efficient means OF perma'
nently eliminating pest which, IL Is
now known. is the cause Of all human
malaria.
The question Of draining the marshes
and stagnant pools which are the
breeding places of the mosquito, has
been interestingly illustrated In the
neighborhood Of Boston, where the so
called fresh pond marshes were for a
long time a source of malarial infec-
ton throughout the neighboring towns.
Under a Massachusetts law which
gives boards Of health authority to
abate such nuisances the boards or
| two Of these towns, Belmont and Cam
bridge, co-operated in building a canal
half q mile in length. which successful
lv drained a considerable area Of the
land. The cost was only $1,000, and
not only was the improvement which
resulted highly important from a sanl-
tary point of view, decreasing the
number Of mosquitoes and greatly re-
ducing the prevalence Of malaria. but
many acres Of meadow and woodland
were redeemed and made useful. 1t is
believed at the Institute Of Technology
that q similar scheme Of drainage may
be found useful, from many points OF
view. in the case Of q large number
of cities and towns in other parts OF
the country.
Even with the best system of drain
age, however, there must still be ponds
and sluggish waterways. Here 1t Is
recommended that freedom from mos
ouitoes may often be secured by intro
ducing certain varieties Of fish which
feed on mosquito larv@. Among those
mentioned are the stickleback. the top
minnow. the sunhsh. or pumpkin
and the goldfish. II has been maintain
ed for some time that carp, OF which
the goldfish is one variety. did not eat
mosquito larvG. but experiments under
taken by Mr. w. L. Underwood ut the
institute have apparently proved the
contrary, at least so far as the goldhsh
are concerned. Mr. Underwood put
goldfish In an aquarium together with
a number of the larvae Of the anopheles
mosouito-the variety. that is. which
carries the germ Of malaria-and was
able to show that under these condi-
tions the goldfish ate the larvae without
question and apparently with great rel
ish. To.convince the skeptical he took
photographs Of the operation, which are
soon to be published in one Of the mag
azines. Goldfish will thrive and null
tiply in shallow waters like those
. which are commonly frequented by
mosquitoes even when ice forms nearly
to the bottom of the ponds, and they
seem to be particularly desirable in the
waters Of a park reservation, where, II
anywhere, the mosquito is so distinctly
out of place.