El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-06-01

] lar as the large towns ABOVE mentioned
/ are concerned, however, the mischief
/ has been done away with to a great
/ extent by the ditching Of the marshes
You should understand that the salt
marsh mosquitoes viii fly 40 miles
/ from the place where they are bred.
/ They lay their eggs, not in the water
but on mud-tO be Matched when the
water flows over them. Recently ac-
quired knowledge has greatly extended
our ideas in regard to the varied ways
/ in which mosquitoes accomplish re-
production For example. the Catskill
and other mountain regions in the east
are afflicted by species which lay their
eggs in dry hOliOWs in the ground, in
July. The eggs do not hatch until
water from melting snow has filled
the depressions in the following
spring. Thus there is only one genera
tion in a year. making its appearance
in May and persisting until midsuHN
mer.
Are Ancient Insects.
Mosquitoes we know, are very am
Client insects. They existed on the earth
many millions Of years before the first
human beings arrived Some species
seem TO have altered their habits since
coming into contact with man. But
this is point on which it is necessary
to speak with caution. because we real-
~ know very little about it, We do
know, however, that the yellow fever
mosquito is never found nowadays
more than a quarter of a mile from
houses. 1t seems to be practically
dependent upon the conditions Of civili-
zatiOn.
'sThe yellow fever mosquito appears
to have belonged originally to the tree
hole tribe-being, that is to say, one
of a number Of species which under
natural conditions prefer to lay their
eggs in holes in trees, where rain
malaria-carrying mosquitoes IL may
likewise be said that they are seldom
found far from human habitations-
1T is somewhat curious to observe
how civilization begins by doing away
with malaria and then. later on, re-
introduces it. In Illinois, Indiana, and
other parts of the middle west, the
early settlers suffered frightfully from
this malady-distributed as We know.
BY MOSQUITOES Many of them died OF
it. But incidental to reducing the land
to cultivation, they drained it; the
mosquitoes disappeared to a great eX
tent in consequence, and there was
cOmparati lively little malaria But the
subsequent development of civilized
methods Of living, with street cutters
and sewer traps 10 hold stagnant wa
ter, railroads (Which afford similar
facllltes), and various other cendl-
tions. not forgetting the omnipresent
tin cam (Which holds enough rain
water to furnish a small but reliable
crop Of mosquitOes), again grants
ample opportunities for the breeding
Of the insects, and malaria becomes
rife.
eve may regard the malaria mos
quito and the yellow fever mosquito as
parasites on man in a sort of casual
way. But there is one species which
really lives at his expense, DEPENDING
upon him habitually for both 1000 ana
shelter. This is CuleX pipiens, the com
mon house or rain barrel mosquito,
which is as much the companion OF
human beings as the rat. IL might al
most be called a household pet, mas
much as people commonly, though
without intention. furnish il with
BREEDING facilities on their own prem
Uses.
The Rain Barrel Mosquito.
ct is called the rain barrel mosquito
because its 'wrigglers' breed in such
receptacles in great numbers when
ever an opportunity is offered. That
il considers itself a domestic animal
is proved by its persistent and usu-
alIv successful efforts to get into
dwelling houses and stay there, or in
their immediate neighborhOod- 1t
spends the winter by preference in cell
lars or damp, dark shelters of any
6ind-even upper rooms OF shutup. un-
heated houses. Often there are thou
sands of its kind alternating in a cell
lar unsupported by the owner These
are all females, and those of them that
survive until the coming OF warm
u-ea Their Immediately look for a place !
not 1T hand. pail half fun Of water |
or A puddle viii serve the purpose, the I
ee-rs- about 200 in number. being set !
on end and glued together in raft I
shane on the surface Of the water /
where thew float until Matched
"A Boston man once sent 10 US a /
hatch of mosquitoes which he had col
Iected in his cellar, where they had I
assembled in such numbers that when |
a Kerosene lamp was held up the inside
of the glass chimney was soon covered /
with them to the thickness Of half an /
inch. The cellar was very cold. IN one !
corner was a small furnace pipe, put 4
its warm neighborhOod was avoided,
the insects gathering in the eoIaest
places The lower the temperature
the better it seems to suit them Tor
purposes of Information apparently
no extreme Of cold viii viii them-
NO water is too foul. no receptacle
too small to serve as breeding place
for this household species. A street
gutter, "a cIogged roof gutter, tin
can, or an open sewer viii SUIT the
purposes of CuleN pipiens- The only I
requirement is that there shall be 4
water enough to last at least week,
and that it shall not be pure This
mosquito breeds as readily indoors as
out DR.. John B. Smith says; I have I
found Wrigglers in jar Of water for J