SWAT THAT MOSQUITO!

Te Aroha News, Volume XXXV, Issue 5609, 27 February 1918, Page 2

SWAT THAT MOSQUITO!

SOME INTERESTING INFORMATION The mosquitos which are- at present such a pest in some parts of Te Aroha are declared to be not the indigenous variety. They are larger and blacker than tho New Zealand species, wh : ch has almost disappeared except where large tracts of bush or undrained swamp remain. The native has a gentle tenor voice and an unobtrusive and insinuating though persistent method of attack, but his cousin from the CarnatiC'has the tone of a steam siren, charges like a Highlander, aud bayonets his victim with the vim and precision of a Cold steamer. The poison he deposits in the wound is infinitely more irritating and sometimes produces serious results if the blood of the person stung is out of order. Tho water-casks of the trooper that carried them were taken ashore at Auckland to be refilled and the dregs, which must have contained the larvae, emptied out on the beach just about where Fort street now runs. We are not publishing this information with a view to discrediting the Acclimatisation Societies, whose zeal and energy in introducing pests is widely recognised ; and we feel sure that the fact that they were fore; tailed in this instance will not cause alteration in the feelings of the public towards them. A favorite breeding-ground of the Indian mosquito is in the stagnant water so often to be found in the spouting of houses and a little care on the part of the plumber in securing a fall towards the outlet will obviate this. A minute quantity of kerosene poured into the spouting is a certain remedy, though not a palatable one when the rainwater is used for domestic purposes.