The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-09-07

make a hammock mosquito proof. Here
the hammock swung gently inside OF
an enormous mosquito netting hogs
head, with ingeniously sliding hoops
through which the owner made his
exits and entrances. On larger scale
it was not unlike the cylindrical he'll
met invented to defy the mosquito IN
| the woods and provided with sliding
door if the owner wished to put any
thing into his mouth.
II For outdoor wear another interesting
| invention was the pocket mosquito cap,
| designed by yet another feminine IN
ventor. although intended for gentle
men. The inventor probably realized
that no woman would wear it under any
circumstances. but argued, somewhat
unadvisedly, that man would wear
anything. The gentleman in this case,
seeing a mosquito approaching IN the
distance. dragged from his pocket a
large bag of mosquito netting hung
from a headpiece that projected some
inches from the circumference of his
Uranium This being placed securely
on his head. the net fell around him In
graceful folds and was belted in or
left to float negligently as his own
taste dictated 1t deprived him of the
use of his arms, but it defied the mos
quito.
The trap for mosquitoes stands alone
in the list of inventions. 1t was made
of metal in the shape of cylinder and
so arranged that it was illuminated
from the outside In the cylinder were
many perforations, and the light shin
ing through them easily tempted the
MOSQUITO to believe that here was
little house, presumably inhabited by
little people So the mosquito APP
preached cautiously and climbed
through one of the perforations. But
these. alas! were like the inward
pointing spokes of the familiar wire
rat-trap, and once inside there was no
returning. In the morning the trap
could be soaked in a tub of water and
the eaptives drowned without pity.
During the last decade, indeed, lit
erature has been buster with the mos
quito than the invention. In the four
years from 1900 to 1904 the magazines
of this country published more than
thirty articles about the creature-se-
rious articles ranging from intimate
personal gossip to the sociological as
civic problem. These four years are
perhaps the golden age of the mosquito
as literary material, for there is sur
prisingly little to be written about her,
even when we include her more modest
and less aggressive husband. Humor
has found the mosquito an unfailing
topic. but the writer of up-to-the- min
ute detective tales hasn't grasped the
possibilities of the mosquito.
Among the schemes evolved for de-
stroying the mosquito it was proposed
some years ago to form mosquito
brigades in various disturbed commun-
tiles. What these brigades were in
tended to do is now actually being
done in many places by State govern
ments or local initiative.
The one great coup in mosquito war
fare, however, was the discovery of the
mosquito parasite-the kindly Agamo
meris Culeicis, a little half-inch round
worm that enjoys eating them. There
are really many such worms, but this
one attracted special attention; there
was talk of artifcially creating an
army of them and turning them loose
in mosquito neighborhoods. A certain |
jocular newspaper exploited the theory; |
a certain scientific magazine explained
seriously that it was quite out of the
question, and certain poet, Mr.. s. W.
Gillian, wrote of it in one of the best
of all the hnnumerable mosquito poems:
"They have found bug to kill me,
so / hear.
(Hear my song)
But it cannot with my pleasure inter
fere
Very long.
1t will be the same old story,
When / tune my bugle CORY,
And IN toot this bug to glory
With my song
Ny killing song"
And so, singing and singing, the
HES onl