Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 63.djvu/457

Rh

HE statement has been frequently made of late that there is no more reason why we should suffer from mosquitoes than there is that we should allow rats and mice to continually annoy us, and this statement is in a measure true. Rats and mice are to a great extent effectively held in check; for we have become accustomed to them and their habits, and we know how to deal with them. Were it not for the fact that a constant warfare is being waged against them, they would soon overrun our houses and make life unbearable.

In order to fight the mosquitoes successfully it is important that every one should take an interest in the popular uprising against this insect pest. And now that it is known that, besides being a nuisance, mosquitoes may be a menace to the health of the community, it is equally necessary that every one should become familiar with all that pertains to their life history so that the war against them may be successfully and intelligently carried on. Notwithstanding all that has been written on the subject of mosquitoes, during the last year or two, the majority of people still know but little about them.

It is the purpose of this article to state, in as simple a manner a? possible, the facts that are now known regarding mosquitoes and how to deal with these pests, and it is hoped that this information may help to secure a more general cooperation in the work of mosquito extermination.

Few people realize that there are a great many different kinds of mosquitoes. Some three hundred species have already been described, and here in the United States we have about fifty species, belonging to nine different genera. The most common of these genera in the northern states are Anopheles, the malarial, and Culex, the ordinary, mosquito. Of the former there are two species and of the latter at least fifteen.

Only these two genera and the methods for their extermination will be especially considered, and as these methods may also be successfully applied to the other kinds of mosquitoes, no detailed description of the others need be given.