The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1908-05-08

Previous to the year 1926 mosqui-
toes were 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
tion at Lahaina is as follows: Mr..
Richards was returning to Lahaina
one evening and met a native who in
formed him that there was new
fly" in the place. The native de-
scribed the insect as being very pc
culiar fly" that made it's 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
1928 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
NSulex 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 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
a 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
4 irntry 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
at 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
Wholesale importing houses Of Hon
olulu, places the sum annually spent
In these islands for insect powder,
wire mosquito cloth and mosquito net
Ting at $27,243 of which $7,00s is for
insect powder, $9.735 for wire mosqu
to cloth and $10.500 for mosquito net
'lng These figures are based on the
retail price and do not include
great quantity of cheaper grades of
open-mesh cloth sold to orientals and
The poorer classes. A landlord can
not think OF offering a house or room
ior rent and expect a ready tenant un-
less he is able to insert mosquito
PROOF in the announcement, and nets
hre household necessity in homes
mat connot afford screening. If the
sooVe amount Of money was judicious-
" spent in Kidding the communities
u this territory of the breeding places
VI mosquitoes, permanent relief could
De secured. In reviewing the life-his-
Tory OF the mosquito 1t is evident that
,'e hight against the adult is futile and
mat the effort Of control must be d.
Isc'ed against the breeding places OF
iha insect.
"ks the common opinion here that
Tie taro patches and rice fields are
lt'lniy responsible for the abundance
VI the mosquitoes. They do breed to