Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1909-04-07
The Mosquito Nuisance


Mosquitoes are not only a nuisance,
but a menace. No town can afford
to feed hungry horde of bIood-suck.
ing insects which are the carriers in
southern chimes of yellow fever and
elephantiasis, and which are the only
known means of spreading malaria
The experience of the health officials
ia Havana, New Orleans and the
Panama zone, under tropical con-
ditions, and the success of work in
Brookline, Worcester and Wellfleet,
Mass, and many places in New Jer-
sey, and Lawrence on the south shore
and many places on the north shore
of Long Island, N. Y. under northern
conditions, are convincing proofs that
the mosquito nuisance can be abated.
If not eliminated.
The mosquito problem is preemi-
nently a health question. and its So
luton can most advantageously be
undertaken by the authorities invest
ed with the protection of the public
health. In many cases, the land
owner supporting mosquito breed
ing-place can be proceeded against as
the maintainer of nuisance; but in
others the problem is so large that
its solution calls for the exercise of
the best engineering talent through
some central authority having con-
troll over large tracts of territory.
Habits and Description.
Mosquitoes lay their eggs upon the
surface of quiet waters. From these
eggs there hatch the young mos
quitoes, or larvae. which are COM
monty known as wrigglers. The wrtg-
glers in time become mosquitoes, as
caterpillars become butterflies. II.
therefore, you have barrel of rain
water with wrigglers in it. you are
breeding mosquitoes.
Mosquitoes pass the larval and pu-
pal stages in water, and as it is i'm
practicable to kill adult mosquitoes
wholesale, their breeding-places must
be sought out and obviated or the
larvae, or wrigglers, attacked. Mos
quitoes live as larvae, or wrigglers,
about eight days, when the weather is
warm; but in cool weather it re-
quires several weeks for them to get
their growth. In the larvaI stage
they require for their development
still, quiet water, not too deep.
Bodies of water large enough to be
ruffled by the wind or which are
we'll stocked with fish, are not breed
ingplaces unless their borders are
shallow or supply weed-protected
nooks; but any small place which Will
hold water for week-even a tin
can or tree-hole, n piece of broken
bottle, a sagging roof-gutter or a els
tern-furnishes a breeding place A
campaign. to be effective, must leave
no loophole open, no nook unvisited.
in the territory covered.
After passing the larval stage the
mosquitoes change to pupae. which
are the club-shaped creatures often
seen in water. This stage CORE
spends to the chrysalis stage of the
butterflies. The pupal stage Of
mosquitoes lasts from one to three
days. When the pupa is mature. the
skin splits along the back and the
/ full-grown mosquito creeps out
stands upon the water a little while
and flies away. TIL larva of the ma
l2rial mosquito when at rest always
floats in horizontal position at the
/ surface of the water, while the larva
of the other common mosquito hangs
obliquely downward, the tip OF the
tail (the breathing tube) is in con.
! tact with the surface. The adults