Milford chronicle., 1903-03-13
THE MOSQUITO WAR.
Drainage and Fish the Best Methods
For Checking the Pest.

Drainage and Fish the Best Methods
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 a study Of the condi-
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 the
remedy most commonly employed. The
mosquito larvae, thrusting their long
breathing tubes out of the water, take
in oil instead of air and are speedily
suffocated 1t is suggested by Profess
or Sedgwick's department, however,
that the use of oil, while excellent for
the time being, is only a temporary
expedient, after all, and that drainage
Of swamps in the neighborhood of
towns and cities and the stocking of
ponds with certain varieties of fish
are the most efficient means of perma-
nently eliminating a pest which. it 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 Il source of malarial infec-
ton throughout the neigbbOring towns.
Under a Massachusetts law which
gives boards of health authority to
abate such nuisances the boards of
two of these towns. Belmont and Cam
bridge. co-operated in building a canal
half a mile in length. which successful
ly drained a considerable area of the
land. The cost was only S1GGO. and
not only was the improvement which
resulted highly important from Il sani-
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 I.
believed at the Institute of Technology .
that similar scheme of drainage NAV
be found useful, from many points of |
view, in the case of Il 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 it is
recommended that freedom from mos
quitoes may often be secured by intro
ducing certain varieties of fish which
feed on mosquito larvae. Among those
mentioned are the stickleback. the top
minnOw, the sunfish. or pumpkin"
and the goldfish. 1t has been maintain
ed for some time that carp. of which
the goldfish is one variety. did not eat
larvae. but experiments under
taken by Mr. W. L. Underwood at the
institute have apparently proved the
contrary, at least so far as the goldfish
are concerned. Mr.. Underwood put a
goldfish in an aquarium together with
a number of the larvae of the anopheles
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
sh. To convince the skeptical he took
of the operation, which are
soon to be published in one of the mag
lzines. Goldfish will thrive and null
tiply in shallow waters like those
which are commonly frequented by
even when ice forms nearly
10 the bottom Of the ponds, and they
seem to be particularly desirable in the
waters Of a park reservation. where. If
anywhere the mosquito is so distinctly
)ut of place.