The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1919-07-31
FEARS INVASION
BY M0TQUIT0ES
ASKS COOPERATION IN DESTROY
ING BREEDING PLACES.
Rains Fill Tin Cans
Weeds Conceal Bottles and jugs Full
of Rain Water and Give Insects
Opportunity to Breed.

Columbia, July 27.-Culex and
anopheles, which are pet names ap-
piled by scientists to two varieties of
mosquitoes, promise to make trouble
during the next few days unless
citizens take measures to pre-
vent their breeding, says DR.. G. E.
Smith, city health officer.
The rains have caused the weeds
to grow up like Jonah's gourd, and
many a back yard is a feeble imita-
tion of ftNe Mans Land with jimp-
son and rag weeds fourishing like
the bay tree DR.. Smith says that
the weeds likely conceal many empty
cans, bottles, and jugs. Garbage col
lectors will hardly be able to dis
cover these cans and the abundant
rains have filled many of them to the
brim. In the shadow Of the weeds,
the water in these receptacles will
vaporate slowly, and the female mos
quitoes could ask no better shelter
for their eggs than hidden tomato
can half full Of rain water. 1t is up
to the housekeeper to empty these
cans and bottles and put them in the
trash box where the garbage man can
find them and cart them off. Other
wise, mosquitoes will breed in them
and make trouble for neighbors.
The recent rains, DR.. Smith said
yesterday, have washed out many
holes in yards, in the streets and in
bitches. These pot holes are full of
water and many of them are hidden
by grass and make ideal places for
the culex and the anopheles to de-
posit their eggs.
Houses with fiat tin roofs often
hold rain water. Puddles on roofs
are not held in contempt by lady
mosquitoes who deposit eggs without
much regard to elevation.
DR.. Smith said yesterday that
leaves from trees falling in bitches
and thence being carried into cul-
verts sometimes collect and hold wa
ter. Dams are also formed in open
bitches by leaves and debris, and the
high percentage of humidity which
has obtained during the past ten days
has prevented much evaporation, so
that the puddles are now warming in
the sunlight.
With all these factors in their ia
vor, DR.. Smith expects the mosquitoes
to breed with considerable rapidity,
and he hopes that the householders
will cooperate with the health de-
partment in eliminating prospective
mosquito nurseries.
The female mosquito deposits eggs
in water, and in about two days the
eggs hatch wiggle tails, later develop
ing into mosquitoes and, flying from
their breeding places, seek whom
they may devour. The time from the
laying of the egg to the emergence
Of the full grown mosquito varies
somewhat according to the tempera-
ture of the water. The mosquitoes
may emerge within as short a period
as nine days after the deposit by the
female, though usually a longer time
is required for development
The female mosquito lives largely
on blood, while the male subsists on
vegetation. The weeds provide ex-
cellent feeding and hiding places for
the mosquitoes, but they do not breed
in the weeds, unless pools of water
are present. By cutting down weeds
hiding places are destroyed and the
mosquito is deprived of a place of
concealment.
DR.. Smith anticipates that the in
sects will be disagreeable for short
time, unless householders use every
precatuion to see that standing water
about the premises is emptied.
Weeds should be cut down in back
yards and efforts made to clear away
rubbish of all kinds so that pools Of
water may evaporate before the eggs
have opportunity to hatch.
Natural Deductions.