The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1911-09-11
MOSQUITOES


certain species of mosquitoes CAno-
phelneD bites a human being at the
period when the malaral germs are
mating in his blood she sucks in
some Of them along with the blood.
After they have developed within for
nine days, she becomes infectious, and,
if she bites another human being, m
oculates him with malaria.
The demonstration of these facts
gave new impetus to the study of
entomology. It was soon discovered
that other diseases are spread in
much the same way. The story Of
how our army commission in Cuba
worked out the connection of another
brand Of mosquitoes Cthe Stegomyia)
with yellow fever and how some Of
them voluntarily had themselves in
fected and died to prove the theory
has been so often told that it needs
no repeating here. It soon developed
that mosquitoes were not the only
offenders; the sleeping sickness Of
Africa was traced to a biting fly,
and the bubonic plague is now known
to be spread by feas that have gath
cred the virus from infected rats.
At first relatively little was known
about the varieties and habits of mos
quitoes; an Immense amount of in
formation is now At hand Our men
have collected and studied over fifty
varieties on the Canal Zone And Mr..
a II. Jennings, the entomologist of
the Commission, can give you inter
4 esting gossip about all OF them-hOw
they court and how they are born,
ard what they eat at three days old
and what dessert they prefer after
two weeks, how and wnere the mother
Iays her eggs, and so forth. OF these
hfty-odd varieties eleven species are
AropheIinc- all OF which are lndel
/ suspicion IS ma.ar.l bearers. The
thee coio.oonest species are the Ano
.pheles alDmanus, \. pseuiopuncJipen
ms, and A. malefactor. The white
handed variety is known to be the
most act,'e in spreading disease
There is 10 direct evidence agains
the A. malefactor, despite his i'll
sounding rare.
! OF the albimanus, the most danger
Gus, as is true of other species, ;h
female alone bites She does it be
cause a meal of blood facilitates tn
development Of her eggs II is doubt
full if she can lay without LAWN
gorged herself. She seems to prefe
red blood. But she has been caugh
in the act of biting reptiles, and eve
fish. This duty attended 20, she be
gins a search for a suitable place t.
deposit her eggs. More study ha
been given to this phase of her lif
than any other, and Mr.. Jennings ca
tell you just what she will do AN
just what she won't in this mater Sh
| prefers stationary or slOw-moVn
water. well screened from the SUI
where there is plenty of green scul
for the youngsters to feed on. Th
/! swampy pools, such as the jungl
abounds in, seem to be her ideal. TIL
eggs in due course of time hatch OF
into tiny tadpolish larvae. The
spend their time feeding and breaI
ing. Every two minutes they have
come up to the surface to get fires
q air. This, as we shall see later, is tn
q fatal weakness-the Achilles heel
their scheme of life. Having passe
j safely through their larval stage, the
hatch out into full-nedged mOsquitoe
They mate, the female starts out aft
blood, and the cycle has recommence
An adult mosquito is lively pro
osition TO deal with-almost as ell
sive as a flea. So our sanitary me
try to get them before they matm
The fight against malaria falls in
three divisions. First of all, our m,
try to reduce the number of plac
where the female can lay her egg
. In dry northern climate it might
III possible to eliminate such places, B
I'm nine months ont of the twelve # rail
down here nearly every day. And if
row leaves a deep footprint in q
soggy ground, a couple Of inches
,oo water will ooze into it, and, benol
,oO very fine place for AnOpheline
breed. The main work Of this dir
Ct sion is in draining and filling swami
lp ground. Also they cut the undo
Nh brush and grass in the neighborhood
,er settlements, partly to destroy Il
shade and help the sun to dry I
on small puddles, and partly that tn
may see the ground and more east
. find the breedingplaces In the annu
report for 1907 is given this account