Many species of Anophelinae act as carriers of the pathogenic organism of malaria and in Europe one of the commonest kinds thus implicated is Anopheles maculipennis. Aedes aegypti (often known as Stegomyia fasciata) which is concerned with the trans mission of yellow fever belongs to the Culicinae (fig. 2). The ter rible disease of elephantiasis is due to a parasitic worm being dis seminated by various mosquitoes, one of the most important being the common tropical species Culex fatigans. Other human and animal diseases are spread by mosquitoes (see ENTOMOLOGY, MEDICAL).
Control Measures.—Various measures for controlling mosqui toes have been introduced. Freedom from the attacks of these in sects is largely obtained by living in mosquito-proof dwellings or by utilizing mosquito curtains while sleeping. A variety of sub stances have been recommended for application to exposed parts of the body, essential oils of various kinds being largely ad vised. The destruction of mos quitoes in dwellings may be car ried out by the fumigation of rooms, while traps in the form of boxes, lined with dark blue or black cloth, which can be readily closed, have been recommended. The elimination of standing water and the drainage of marshy lands afford the chief means of reducing the larval breeding-places. Areas of water which cannot be done away with are treated with oil or oil mixtures which spread to form a thin covering film, thus destroying the larvae as they come to the surface to breathe as well as acting as a deterrent to egg-laying fe males. Wells require screening while tanks and irrigation canals
may be stored with species of fish which are known to devour mosquito larvae. Large areas of shallow swamps, rice fields and bayous in the United States have recently been dusted with Paris green discharged from aeroplanes, which has resulted in the destruction of the larvae and this method appears to promise extensive developments in the future.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.-The literature on mosquitoes has assumed enormous proportions; some 26 species of mosquitoes occur in the British Isles and most of them are admirably described by W. D. Lang, A Hand book of British Mosquitoes (London: British Museum, Nat. Hist. 192o). Much useful information relative to the British forms and control measures is also given in the pamphlet by F. W. Edwards and S. P. James, British Mosquitoes (British Museum: Nat. Hist. Economic series 4A, 1925). For the North American species, L. 0. Howard, H. G. Dyar and F. Knab, The Mosquitoes of North and Central America (Washington, 1912-17, 4 vols.) is a storehouse of information: a handier and more recent treatise is H. G. Dyar, The Mosquitoes of the United States (Proc. U.S. National Museum, vol. lxii., 1922). For control measures see W. E. Hardenburg, Mosquito Eradication (London and New York, 1922) ; W. V. King and G. H. Bradley, Airplane dusting in the Control of Malaria Mosquitoes (U.S. Dept. of Agric., Circular 367, 1926) ; see also text books of medical entomology. (A. D. I.)