The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-08-19


year they were brought to the port Oh
Iahaina on the Island of Maui, In
the shin wellington from San Bias,
Mexico. The story, as told by the late
Rev. VIM. Richards, (the writer is in
fiebted to Prof w. .. Alexander OF Ho-
nolulu for this ACCOUNT at that time
in charge of the Mission Station at La
haina. is as fol1ows: Mr.. Richards was
returning to Lahaina one evening ana
met a native who informed him that
there was new fly in the place.
The native described the insect as be-
ing a very peculiar fly that made Its
presence known by "a singing in the
car" Shortly after this, Mr.. Rlch-
ards being on the outlook for the new
fy. heard the singing in his ear ana
recognized the sound as that of the
mosquito, which up to that time had
never been seen or heard Of in the Is
lands. Furthermore, UP to the year
1926 there was no word in the Hawai-
ian language for mosquito The native
term is ''makika,' a corruption of the
word mosquito. Lahaina was at that
time the port for incoming and out
going ships. 1t is easy to understand
that the ships coming here were few
and far between and how general opin-
ion could center on the ship yelling
tom as the carrier of the pest.
Since the mosquito introduced in 1926
called might" mosquito, the writer in
fers that the species determined as
Culex pipens Linn, so abundant and
widespread here, was the one intro
duced at that time. The two species
of Stegomyia or day" mosquitoes were
introduced during the present genera
ton.
DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE
OF MOSQUITOES IN HAWAII. 1
The mosquitoes were long time
spreading over the Islands. Two gen
erations ago there We're many districts
entirely free from this pest. Today
such places are exceptional. In the
eighties there were no mosquitoes at
Makawao on the same Island as Laha-
ina. Makawao is some fifty miles from
Lahaina "as the crow flies with
mountain range nearly six thousand
feet in elevation intervening. The
building of roads, making settlement
and communication possible, and the
intimate inter-island communication of
late years, has so favored the distribu-
ton of this pest that only a few places
visitors the inducement that the dis
trict is free from mosquitoes.
The abundance of mosquitoes in Ha-
wall may be accounted for by the facts
that up to this time there has been
no effort to do away with their breed
ing places, that the number of natural
breeding places is unusually large, and
that the pest is not checked at any
season of the year by climatic condi
tions, it being possible for them to
breed uninterruptedly during the entire
year.
A GENERAL ACCOUNT OF MOS
QUITOES. /
To make this paper of practical value
to the people of Hawaii in fighting this
general pest, the accepted facts re-
garding mosquitoes are briefly given.
DR. L. O. Howard, Entomologist of the
United States Department of Agricul-
ture. first advanced the idea of the
Wholesale destruction of this insect.
His book, Mosquitoes, (Mosquitoes:
How they live; How they carry dis
ease; How they are classified; How
they may be destroyed. Howard.
1900 is the authoritative work on the
subject In 1892 DR.. Howard conducted
during the summer experiments in the
CatskilI Mountains, New York. the sue
cess of which became widely known
throughout the United States. Since
that time it has been repeatedly dem
onstrated in different mosquito-ridden
sections of the country that it is I'm
necessary for any community to sub
init to the mosquito nuisance. Par
ticularly convincing are the expert
ments being carried on in the State
of New Jersey in which DR.. j. b.
Smith of the New Jersey Experiment
Station is taking an active interest.
The work of destruction is directed "a
gainst the breeding places.
The Breeding Place of Mosquitoes
The post-embryonic development of
the mosquito. that is, the interval be-
tween the egg state and the adult
winged form, occurs entirely beneath
the surface of water. The young dur
ing this portion of their life-cycle are
true aquatic insects with one excep-
ton. they do not breathe the air dis
solved in the water as do fish, but by
breathe the free air above the surface
of the water: deprived of this they
perish. By nature of their structure
the young of MOSQUITOES can develnn