The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-08-07
HOW MOSQUITOES GROW
Difference Between the Malaria and
Yellow Fever Mosquito.

Difference Between the Malaria and
Yellow Fever Mosquito.
DIR. Quitman Kohnke, president of
the New Orleans Board of Health, has
recently published short article on
Mosquito Murder" which has at
tracted attention. DR.. Kohnke's article
and rules for murder were published in
New Orleans with the following intro
duction
Nothing is Of greater Importance to
the new South than the question of
the suppression of the mosquito. DIR.
Kohnke is probably better equipped
to speak practically and hygienically
upon the subject of the mosquito than
any man in the United Sttaes. His
announcements are based upon ex-
perience; his experience has been
hand to hand fight with the pest from
Mexico to Mississippi"
The mosquito, so far as is known, DIR.
Kohnke says, serves no good purpose
to man in the economy Of nature, and
it's presence is not only a serious detri-
ment to'eomfort, but also a grave dam
| ger to health.
This conclusion leads naturally to
the adoption of measures calculated to
remove or. lesson such a dangerous
cause of discomfort; for it's contin-
uance, if preventable, should be i'm
possible in any intelligent community.
He then goes on to explain how mos
quitoes propagate.
Mosquitoes increase and multiply, he
says, in the following manner: The
adult female mosquito deposits its eggs
upon the surface of still water; the
eggs float upon the water until the
larvae issues from the shell. After
time the larvae undergoes another
change, and becomes a pupae, and re-
mains more generally at the surface.
The wigglers as larvae and pupae re-
quire to breathe, and for this purpose
the larvae rise to the surface at inter-
walls of from one-half to ten minutes.
1t is from the pupae, the later stage
of the wiggler, that the mosquito is
sues.
The eggs of the stegomyia, after be-
ing deposited upon the surface of still
water, hatch out larvae in ten hours:
the larvae require less than six days
to become pupae. which, in twenty
hours, liberate mosquitoes.
The eggs of anopheles require three
days to bring forth the larvae, which
becomes pupae in sixteen days, and,
five days later, the mosquito flies from
the water. These figures vary with
varying conditions and different local
tiles. but may be accepted as generally
true.
Taking the minimum cycle we have
a mosquito develop and rise from still
water within seven days, and this pos
sibility should always be considered in
determination operations put into
practice in the South. It has been
said that malaria is conveyed by the
anopheles, and yellow fever by
stegOmyia fasciata
The larvae rise to the surface to
breathe at intervals of one-half to ten
minutes. A Aim Of oil upon the sur
face OF the water prevents the wiggler
from reaching the air, and it's death
results.
The female mosquito. seeking a
place to deposit her eggs, is caught by
the oil and killed. or flies away in
search of more favorable spot and,
finding none, will die without deposit
ing her $50 or 400 progeny
DR. Kohnke goes on 10 tell how the
oil should be used which is practically
the way In which II is being used in Sa-
vannah and elsewhere. A very little oil
is all that Is required TO serve the pur-
pose; the thinnest film will do, and 1t
has been estimated that an ounce 1.-TWO
tablespoonsfuD OF ordinary lamp coal
oil will cover in a thin film fifteen
square feet Of water surface.