The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1903-07-08
HOW MOSQUITOES
CAME HERE
CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE PEST
IN MANY PLACES ON THE MAIN
LAND.

How a general, almost national, cam
paign against mosquitoes is being car
ried on on the Mainland and how the
pests first came to the Hawaiian ISL
ands is described in an article by
Harold Bolce in the Philadelphia Sat
urday Review. Reports show that
scores of communities where the insects
are a nuisance have taken up the
fight with success. Bolce says:
Mosquitoes are not migrants. Their
invasion of new countries is made pos
sible by their taking passage in cars
or vessels. In the Hawaiian islands,
where this insect is now a serious pest
it was unknown up to 1926. Before that
time, it is claimed there was no word
in the Hawaiian language for mos
quito In that year a vessel landed at
Lahaina, on the island of Maui, from
San Bias, Mexico. On the night of it's
arrival, a native informed the late DR..
D. Baldwin, the missionary in charge
of the Lahaina station, that a new fly,
singing fly, had bitten him. Not long
after the missionary heard a strain
which he recognized as that of the
mosquito. 1t was the first time it's
sinister song had ever been heard in
those islands.
Later it was introduced into other
parts by ships hailing from the Pacific
Coast but it is Interesting to learn that
although the insect multiplied and
made life intolerable at times in the
| immediate vicinity of these ports, it
did not travel afield until the develop
| ing means of communication enabled
| it to migrate.
| Since the American occupation
| transportation facilities are Offering the
MOSQUITO ready opportunity to extend
| It's dominion. AS a result of growing
lnter-island communication, every re-
| gion in the Hawaiian group has either
peen invaded or is in danger of inVa-
| sion, and as the imported insects in
clude the species that transmits yellow
fever, the question of how to combat
| mosquitoes has suddenly become one
or serious Importance in these new in
| sular possessions of the United States.
Reports coming into Washington
show that the campaign against the
mosquito is becoming national in it's
| scope Many municipalities have
| either passed or are about to enact
mosquito ordinances to compel inhabi-
| tants to make scientific warfare upon
the insects. In the District of Column
bia person who permits pool to re-
main on his premises is subject to a
fine of from five to fifty dollars. In
some localities in the United States
certain days in the month, usually the
| first and fifteenth, have been set apart
| as oil days, when ponds and sluggish
streams are to be treated with kerosene
Mayors of cities in attempting to in
troduce mosquito regulations have, in
some places, met with public ridicule,
but they are persistng in their efforts,
and by conducting experiments are de-
monstrating that the mosquito army of
any neighborhood may be subjugated.
Public opinion is, therefore, gradually
coming around to the practicability of
the undertaking. Some cities have
appointed inspectors who duties are to
locate mosquito waters and
see that the owners thereof apply the
misunderstanding petroleum oils.
Society, also has voluntarily taken
up the work of mosquito determination,
and mosquito luncheons and mosquito
teas, at which crusades are organized
| and methods of attack discussed, have
been given. Mr.. William c. Whitney,
at the Sheepshead Bay Club, very re-
| Gently gave mosquito luncheon at
which the necessity of organizing to
fight mosquitoes at American watering
places was discussed.
Since the public has been informed
! that mosquitoes transmit malaria and
| yellow fever, numerous requests have
| been made upon Doctor Howard, the
Government entOmOlogist, the officers
of the Marine Hospital Service, and
medical men of the Army and Navy,
for Information as to the best and
latest methods of fighting adult mos
quitoes. These requests come not only
from permanent residents of mosquito
ridden localities, but also from city
people contemplating summer trips
to seaside or mountain.
There has lately been recommended
in this country a method of attack
which, 1t is said the Chinese have used
with success for many centuries. They
make little bags, fill them with pine or
| juniper sawdust mixed with birthstone
and arsenic, and coil them into the form
| of snakes These are then set afire,
creating, it is claimed, widespread NOR
tally among the mosquito genera.
These fiery mosquito Staying dragons
may be purchased at the rate of six
cents a hundred.