File:Adventures with animals and plants (1948) (17913615346).jpg

Title: Adventures with animals and plants
Identifier: adventureswithan00kroe (find matches)
Year: 1948 (1940s)
Authors: Kroeber, Elsbeth, 1882-; Wolff, Walter Harold, 1901-
Subjects: Biology
Publisher: Boston : D. C. Heath
Contributing Library: MBLWHOI Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MBLWHOI Library

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PROBLEM 4. How We Attc'?/jpt to Stop the Spread of Disease 353
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Fig. 313 This old creek is beifig straightened and ?nade deeper. How will this affect mosquito breedi?ig? pupae breathe through tubes which come in contact with the air at the sur- face of the water. See Figure :?i2. This is their undoing. For by spreading the thinnest film of kerosene or other oil over the surface of the water we can cut off their air supply and kill them before they develop into adults. Sometimes it is easier and more effective to fill in or drain the stagnant pools. Sometimes it is more convenient to stock the waters with small fish that feed on the larvae and pupae. How successful have we been? When the life history of the mosquito became known it seemed a relatively easy matter to exterminate them. In the early years of this century General Gorgas of the United States Army began systemati- cally to exterminate the yellow fever mosquito in Havana, Cuba. There the mosquitoes laid eggs in water barrels or other Mater containers. These were cleaned up or kept covered. The prob- lem, therefore, seemed not too difficult. Other communities followed Havana's example, and it was believed for a time that yellow fever was being conquered. These hopes, however, were soon de- stroyed, for it was discovered that vari- ous species of jungle mosquitoes are car- riers of the virus and that many species of monkeys can and do become infected. Mosquitoes bite monkeys as well as man and transfer the virus readily from mon- key to monkey or from monkey to man. The task of wiping out mosquitoes in all the jungles of the tropics is more than man can tackle; yellow fever is far from being conquered. Malaria, too, for a time seemed to be under control. Our success in building

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