The Hawaiian gazette., 1907-12-31
RICE FIELDS
NOT A MENACE

S1The day mosquito-the Stegomyia
fasciata that spreads yellow fever-is
not the rice field and taro pond mos
quito. 1t is never found there con-
tinued Jared G. Smith, special agent
in charge of the Hawaii Experiment
Station, to an Advertiser reporter.
"We have examined hundreds of rice
fields and taro patches and have there
found the night mosquito very abun-
dant. The day mosquito only occurs as
house pest, breeding in such recep-
tacles as empty bottles and tin cans,
also in bodies of clear water in the
vicinity of houses and outbuiidings.
Here is the report of W. C. Gorgas,
Colonel Medical Corps, U. S. Army, in
which he says:
I" 1T is known that this. particular
species of mosquito-the stegomyia, or
the yellow fever mosquito-lives and
breeds almost altogether in houses and
in their immediate neighborhood, and
does not leave the house for any great
distance. With this knowledge of its
life history, the department found it
easiest to destroy the mosquito in its
wiggler stage, and the most useful
means in this direction they found to
be the doing away with all the little
deposits of water in and near inhabited
houses, which the wiggler must have
in order to develop into the mosquito
The methods herein described were not
settled upon, as might appear from this
account, all at once and at the begin
ming, but many other methods of
waging war against the mosquito
were tried, found impracticable, and
dropped
"Here is a bulletin on the subject
issued by the Experiment Station. 1t
is by d. L. Van Dine, entomologist,
and this is part of what he says:
" The yellow-fever mosquito is well
named a "town" species. 1t breeds
almost exclusively about dwellings, and
authorities state that it is seldom
found far outside city limits unless
in the vicinity of dwellings. The female
will invariably choose small collections
ofclear water for depositing her eggs.
The anrc 1aid cipo1x- nv
the water and if not on the water may
remain dormant for long time until
washed into the water or, as in the
case of a rain-barrel, until a shower
brings the water to their level. Atten-
ton to the artificial collections of
water about dwellings will be the prin-
cipal factor in reducing the numbers
of this Species
$50 far as mosquitoes in taro patch
es and rice fields are concerned" Mr.
Smith resumed, "there is a fine enemy
of the mosquito here-the topminnows
by the Territorial Board of
Health in cooperation with our sta
ton, and they are now widely dis
tributed throughout the islands.
"Mr. Van Dine, in another bulletin,
treating of the introduction of topmin-
nows into the Hawaiian Islands, men,
lions two classes of breeding places for
The first comprises all
sorts of receptaeles about domestic
premises. and the second such collec-
tions of water as appear in taro patch
es, rice fields, reservoirs, irrigation
bitches, swamps, closed pools, ponds,
temporary pools formed by storm water
on the lower levels, and pools in the
beds of streams during the dry sea-
sons.
"These- collections, Mr.. Van Dine
says, 'ean not always be dealt with di-
rectly without a great expenditure of
money in drainage work or seriously
such agricultural opera
lions as rice and taro culture. 1t is
obvious, then, that while any natural
check or enemy of mosquitoes is de-
sirable. it is particularly to be de-
sired in the case of mosquitoes develop |
ing in these bodies of water. Previous
to the successful introduction and es-
of the topminnows in Ha-
wall no effective enemies of mosquitoes
occurred
''The night mosquito, which is not
the yellow fever Species" Mr.. Smith
"occurs in such places as
rice fields, swamps, ponds, etc. These
mosquito eating fish breed successfully
in those locations. Colonel Gorgas, to
whom 1 have already referred, is one
of the most eminent men in his pro-
fession and is the authority in rela-
ton to diseases from mosquitoes.
ssSinee the bulletin on the topmin-
nows has been published Mr.. Chal-
mers. manager of Waimanalo planta-
ton, has furnished strong testimony to
the effectiveness of the little fish in
the mosquito. You know
hat Waimanalo was one of the worst
places for mosquitoes in these islands.
Mr.. Chalmers says that the planta-
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