temporary collections of water as the rain caught in a
tomato-can, in an old rubber boot, in broken crockery, etc., will serve
her for a breeding-place, the _Anopheles_ on the other hand takes nearly
three months for the completion of her development. So that, while a
region might be simply swarming with ordinary mosquitoes, it would
frequently be found that the only places which fulfilled all the
requirements for breeding-homes for the _Anopheles_, that is, isolation
from running water or larger streams, absence of fish, and persistence
for at least three months continuously, would not exceed five or six to
the square mile. Drain, fill up, or kerosene these puddles,--for they
are often little more than that,--and you put a stop to the malarial
infection of that particular region. Incredible as it may seem, places
in such a hotbed of fevers as the west coast of Africa, which have been
thoroughly investigated, drained, and cleaned up by mosquito-brigades,
have actually been freed from further attacks of fever by draining and
filling not to exceed twenty or thirty of these breeding-pools.

In short, science is prepared to say to the community: "I have done my
part in the problem of malaria. It is for you to do the rest." There is
literally no neighborhood in the temperate zone, and exceedingly few in
the tropics, which cannot, by intelligent cooeperation and a moderate
expense, be absolutely rid first of malaria, and second of all
mosquito-pests. It is only a question of intelligence, cooeperation, and
money. The range of flight of the ordinary mosquito is seldom over two
or three hundred yards, save when blown by the wind, and more commonly
not more than as many feet, and thorough investigation of the ground
within the radius of a quarter of a mile of your house will practically
disclose all the danger you have to apprehend from mosquitoes. It is a
good thing to begin with your own back yard, including the water-butt,
any puddles or open cesspools or cisterns, and any ornamental water
gardens or lily-ponds. These latter should be stocked with fish or
slightly oiled occasionally. If there be any accumulations of water,
like rain-barrels or cisterns, which cannot be abolished, they should
either be kept closely covered or well screened with mosquito netting.

It might be remarked incidentally in passing, that the only really
dangerous sex in mosquitodom, as elsewhere, is the female. The male
mosquito, if he were taxed with