The new era. (Walden, Colo.) 1906-19??, 1908-05-14
CONWcT3

Previous to the year 1926 mosqui-
toes wore unknown in Hawaii. Dur
Ing that year they were brought to the
port of Lahaina, on the Island of Maui,
in the ship wellington from San
Bias. Mexico. The story, as told by
the late Rev. William Richards at
that time in charge of the Mission sta
ton at Lahaina is as follows: Mr..
Richards was returning to Lahaina
one evening and met native who in
formed him that there was a new
fly" in the place. The native de-
scribed the insect as being a very Pc
culiar fly" that made its presence
known by singing in the ear"
Shortly after this, Mr. Richards be-
ing on the outlook for the new fly,
heard the singing" in his ear and
recognized the sound as that of the
mosquito, which up to that time had
never been seen or heard of in the
islands. Furthermore. up to the year
1926 there was no word in the Haw-
allan language for mosquito. The ma
tive term Is "makika," corruption
Of the word mosquito. Lahaina was
at that time the port for incoming
and outgoing ships. 1t is easy to un-
derstand that the ships coming here
were few and far between and how
general opinion would center on the
ship Wellington" as the carrier of
the pest.
Since the mosquito introduced in
1926 on the ship Wellington" was a
so-called might" mosquito, the writer
infers that the species determined as
Culex pipiens 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.
The mosquitoes were a long time
spreading over the islands. Two gen
erations ago there were many dis
tricts entirely free from this pest. To-
day such places are exceptional. In
the eighties there were no mosquitoes
at Makawao on the same island as
Lahaina. Makawao is some so miles
from Lahaina "as the crow flies" with
mountain range nearly 5000 feet
In elevation intervening. The building
of roads. making settlement and com
munication possible, and the intimate
inter-island communication of late
years, has so favored the distribution
of this pest that only a few places at
the higher elevations can offer to Wis
itors the inducement that the district
is free from mosquitoes.
The abundance of mosquitoes In
Hawaii may be accounted for
by the facts that up to this
time there has been no effort to
do away with their breeding 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 conditions, it be-
ing possible for them to breed uninter-
ruptedly during the entire year.
A tropical country is an out-of-door
country and the mosquito problem be-
comes at once a serious question.
Heretofore the only effort directed
against the mosquito nuisance in the
Hawaiian islands has been to secure
protection from the adult by screening
the houses, the use of nets over beds
1T night and the burning of buhach or
insect powder. These methods are
more or less successful in obtaining
individual relief, but in no manner do
they lessen the numbers of the pest
or remove the source of the nuisance,
A conservative estimate, based on
figures furnished the writer by the
;,,,v ~f
olulu, places the sum annually spent
In these islands for insect powder,
wire mosquito cloth and mosquito net
ting at $27,243 of which $7,0OS is for
insect powder, $9,735 for wire mosqui-
to cloth and $10.500 for mosquito net
ting These figures are based on the
retail price and do not include a
great quantity of cheaper grades of
open-m mesh cloth sold to orientals and
the poorer classes. landlord can
not think of Offering a house or room
for rent and expect ready tenant, I'M
less he is able to insert mosquito
proof" in the announcement, and nets
are a household necessity in homes
that connot afford screening. If the
above amount of money was judicious-
ly spent in Kidding the communities
of this territory of the breeding places
of mosquitoes, permanent relief could
be secured In reviewing the life-his-
tory of the mosquito it is evident that
the fight against the adult is futile and
that the effort of control must be d.
rected against the breeding places of
the insect.
1t is the common opinion here that
the taro patches and rice fields are
mainly responsible for the abundance
Of the mosquitoes. They do breed to
come extent in these places, but the
writer has found the source OF mos
,uities, even in the immediate vicinity
;snA NAychsF AMI rice fields to be