The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-12-30
RICE FIELDS
NOT A MENACE
No Day Mosquitoes There The
Top-Minnows Redeem
Waimanal0.

fThe day mosquito-the stegomyia
fasciata that spgeads 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 reeep-
taeles as empty bottles and tin cans,
also in bodies of clear water in the
vicinity of houses and outbuildings.
Here is the report OF w. c. Gorgas,
Colonel Medical Corps, U. S. Army, in
which he says:
g 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 mightsappear 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 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
of clear water for depositing her eggs.
The eggs are laid singly on or near
the water and if not on the water may
remain dormant for a long time until
washed into the water or, as in the
case of rain barrel, until shower
brings the water to their level Atten-
tion to the artificial collections of
water about dwellings viii 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, 'tthere is fine enemy
of the mosquito here--the topminnowsl
introduced by the Territorial Board of
Health in cooperation with our sta
tion, and they are now widely dis
tributed throughout the islands.
Mr. Van Dine, in another bulletin,
treating of the introduction of topmin-
aows into the Hawaiian Islands, men
tions two classes of breeding places for
The first comprises all
sorts of receptacles about domestic
premises, and the second such collec-
Eions of water as appear in taro patch
rs, rice fields, reservoirs, irrigation
bitches, swamps, closed pools, ponds,
temporary pools formed by storm water
IN the lower levels, and pools in the
beds of streams during the dry sea-
IONS.
''These collections, Mr.. Van Dine i
.ays, can not always be dealt with di- s
eetly without great expenditure of c
money in drainage work or seriously y
nterrupting such agricultural opera e
ions as rice and taro culture. 1t is t
bvious, then, that while any natural L
heck or eneray of mosquitoes is de- a
irable. it is particularly to be de- I
ired in the ease of mosquitoes develop n
ng in these bodies of water. Previous
o the successful introduction and es-
ablishment of the topminnows in Ha- el
rai no effective enemies of mosquitoes a a
ccurred.' N
''The night mosquito, which is not il
be yellow fever Species" Mr.. Smith p'
roceeded, "oeeurs in such places as NJ
ice fields, swamps, ponds, etc. These :
fish breed successfully ii
/ those locations. Colonel Gorgas, to el
HON I have already referred, is one IL
{ the most eminent men in his pro- pl
assion and is the authority in rela- n
on to diseases from mosquitoes. ii
Since the bulletin on the topmin- OF
ows has been published Mr.. Chal- in
ers, manager of Waimanalo planta- m
on, has furnished strong testimony to ly