a master-key to the secrets of the heart. "Come," he would say, turning to us with the gesture of one delivering an ultimatum, "let us go to Angora." Europeanisation is the keynote of the policy of the new Turkey. The Konia racecourse was opened this year and a race meeting held-the first time probably for fifteen hundred years or more. Hassan the cook thought that we ought to attend, and came to the 'Station Hotel' the previous evening to inform us that the races were to begin at eleven "alla Franca," though as the connexion between Moslem and European time appears to be fixed by no ascertainable rule, that did not signify much. At 8.30 A.M. on the following morning Hassan burst into my room. We must hasten to the Square and there meet him; the races were to begin at 9.30. We hurried through breakfast and out of the hotel. There was a hot wind blowing up clouds of vile dust, so we stepped into the nearest cab, which was inevitably driven by the son of the bearded one of Konia, who does not believe in letting a good thing out of the family. We picked Hassan up and arrived at the racecourse at 9.35. It was gaily decorated with the national colours, red and white; the star and cres cent flapped in the wind at innumerable points. There were a few small stands and a fair crowd of people-the men in the stands or lying on the grass, the women clustered like crows on the flat roofs of the mud houses which ran along one side of the course. We bought tickets and expectantly took our seats in a crowded stand raked by the wind and dust. At 12.30 the first event of any importance took place; the man next Hassan called the water-carrier, and after bargaining unsuccessfully for some minutes over the price of a glass of water, decided that he was not thirsty after all. An hour later a contingent of the Turkish army shambled into sight in double file, each file holding hands. This seemed to be the signal for an inspection of tickets, as a result of which all the occupants of the stand, except ourselves and half a dozen others, were turned out. At two o'clock the first horse came on the scene. Others followed, and it appeared that all the jockeys were tastefully fitted out in identical colours, red and white. An hour later a race started. Quite a number of the crowd sat up to watch. Then they turned over on their other side to resume their interrupted chaffering, the real business of the day. MOSQUITO CONTROL IN ENGLAND. BY SIR GEORGE MAXWELL, K.B.E., C.M.G. MOSQUITOES nowadays are amongst the plagues of an English summer. Except in two or three places, nothing is done to control them; and this is the more remarkable because so much is done with conspicuous success in other countries. An account of what might be done in any of our towns or suburbs may be of interest. The first step is to obtain a systematic and scientific record of the different species of mosquito found in the locality, and of their breeding-grounds. Of the twentyfive species found in the United Kingdom, some are rare, and only seven are really important from a 'nuisance' point of view. One breeds exclusively in holes in trees; another breeds in woodland pools, especially in pine-woods; another lays its eggs most frequently in water-barrels, tanks, and empty tins; another selects the shallow margins of weedy waters; another breeds in stagnant salt water; another in fresh, brackish, or salt water; and the seventh breeds in swamps and ditches, and often in abominably foul water. Until a mosquito has been identified, one does not know where to look for its breedingplaces. Two instances of this will suffice. At a Children's Hospital, which was opened a unsus few years ago for 'open air treatment, it was found that the children were so bitten outof-doors that the cure could not be carried out. The hospital authorities screened all the water-butts and garden tanks with no effect. At last they sought expert advice. The mosquito was identified, with the immediate result that a pine wood, hitherto pected, was searched for breeding grounds. Several small ponds, all swarming with mosquito larvæ, were found. They were filled in, and since then the children have had the openair treatment, by night as well as by day, without further annoyance. In the second instance, a large Government institution on the south coast was suddenly infested by myriads of mosquitoes. The authorities examined all the fresh water within miles, but found nothing. Eventually, on expert advice, the mosquito was identified, with the result that stagnant salt water close to the building was searched, and found to be literally alive with larvæ. It was put under control, and the nuisance thereupon abated. When the mosquito is identified, its range of flight is known. It varies from only a few hundred yards for one species to three miles for another. In America, where they have a far-flying mosquito, some municipal authorities control their nuisance by treating breeding-grounds twenty miles away from the town. Fortunately, we have not that difficulty. In England the first step to be taken by any municipal authority desiring to control mosquitoes systematically is to have a Mosquito Survey.' It is an easy matter, and in many countries is carried out on a large scale. The whole of Singapore Island, for instance, covering 217 square miles, has been completely and minutely 'surveyed' for mosquitoes. In an ordinary English town, the Health Officer or Chief Sanitary Inspector would be appointed as officer in charge, Mosquito Survey. He would collect a staff of perhaps a dozen assistants, of whom many would be unpaid volunteers, and would assign a subdivision of the area to each. After a short course of instruction in identifying adult and larval mosquitoes and in keeping the necessary 'Registers,' and after some practical field demonstration, the party is able to locate and examine all mosquito breedinggrounds, to record all necessary information relating to them, and to register the captures of adult and larval mosquitoes. If adult mosquitoes of the three-miles - range of flight species are found in any place, it is necessary for the Survey' (and later for the Control ') to cover a three-miles radius from that place. It is unnecessary to go into the details of the methods of survey. They will be found in many health journals, especially those published in America. Let it suffice to say that what is done in America, on the Continent, and in many British colonies, as a matter of ordinary routine, can be done in England. Armed with the information derived from the Survey, the municipal authority is able to prepare its schemes for the control of the various breedinggrounds. Frequently, of course, it may happen that investigation shows that the cost of remedial measures over an extensive swamp would be prohibitive. Even when this is the unfortunate result, the Mosquito Survey has not been wasted; the facts of the case, hitherto unknown, have been ascertained. The Control operations take the form of filling, draining, oiling, and larviciding. Filling is generally expensive, and can be recommended only in respect of small areas. The cost and difficulty of draining depend entirely upon local circumstances. Both filling and draining are in the nature of 'radical cures'; and afterwards maintenance, though essential, should be easy. Instead of filling in a swamp, it is sometimes more convenient, and generally much cheaper, to convert it into comparatively high ground by the simple expedient of digging a pond in it, and spreading the excavated earth over the surface of the surrounding ground. malaria-carrying mosquito to which Palestine, undrained and unirrigated, was a victim. Sir Ronald Ross, on the other hand, could not understand why the presence of clover should prevent the mosquito from carrying malaria. My own suggestion is that with the introduction of drainage into the Egyptian Delta clover came in and the mosquitoes went out-simultaneously and for the same reason. An artificial pond, with clean- in the Delta of Egypt was cut edges, is easily oiled or saving the country from the larvicided. In Siam, many of the gardens in the European residential area round Bangkok have in this way literally been raised up from swamp ricefields. The ponds are of ornamental shape, and are filled with water-lilies or lotuses; and the new-comer who expresses surprise at so many gardens having ponds is informed that, but for the pond, there would have been no garden, and that the soil for the tennis court was found by digging the pond a little deeper. In connection with any drainage scheme it is worth while to mention the increase to the value of the property. the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur, the federal capital of the Federated Malay States, drainage operations introduced solely for reasons of mosquito control have resulted in wide areas of swamp being converted into building sites. In England, measures of mosquito control might provide, in many places, ground suitable for playing fields or for allotments. In Drainage completely alters the growing power of soil. Clover, for instance, which will not grow on wet or waterlogged soil, grows freely on it when it is drained. There was recently some interesting correspondence on a supposed connection between mosquitoes and malaria. Sir William Willcocks has suggested, in connection with engineering schemes, that the profusion of clover-fields A Oiling and larviciding, which are the methods commonly employed in mosquito control, represent an annual expenditure which never diminishes. The oil floats on the top of the water, making a very thin film, which kills the mosquito larvæ by preventing it from coming up to the surface to breathe. larvicide is distributed fairly equally through the cubic contents of the water, and poisons the larvæ. In deep water, therefore, oil is the more economical. Its disadvantages are that in strong wind it is blown to the lee side of the pond or swamp, and that in weedy water it is not equally distributed. A larvicide must be cheap, and water treated with it must be harmless to human beings or animals. At Hayling Island a preparation containing 20 per cent of soluble cresol is used. A gallon costs six shillings (less when bought in quantities), and will kill all the larvæ in 28,000 gallons of water An example of what could be, but is not, done in so many English towns and suburbs is to be found at Hayling Island. At this well-known seaside resort the mosquito nuisance, which had increased year after year, became in 1920 so intolerable that the local residents were compelled to take action. A public meeting was called, and an association, which later developed into the British Mosquito Control Institute, was formed. For some years past the institute has kept the mosquito nuisance under complete control inside a radius of one and a half miles. Every possible breeding-ground inside this area is known, and regularly larvicided throughout the breeding season. I am informed by my friend, Mr J. F. Marshall, the Director of the Institute, that the cost of the control (exclusive of office expenses) is now about £200 a year, and that the area under control is about six square miles. Larviciding and oiling, which obviously are useful only when larvæ are actually present in the water, may begin as early as the end of February with one species, and not until June with another. The eggs of most species first hatch out in March or April. One species generally has one brood of eggs only; some species have two broods, or perhaps three; and others breed from spring until autumn. September, or sometimes October, sees the last of the larval mosquitoes. All the adults of some species VOL. CCXXV.-NO. MCCCLX. die off with the short cold days of early winter, and the next generation spends the winter in the egg stage. One species lays its eggs on the stems of rushes and grasses in dried-up hollows, and trusts to these hollows being submerged in the water in which the eggs will hatch out in due course. Adhering to the dry stalks, these eggs retain their vitality for two years, or even longer. In some species all the males die off as winter approaches, and the females hibernate in warm dark places such as cellars and corners of kitchens and stables. The curiously diverse breeding-grounds have already been mentioned. This very brief account of breeding times and habits may serve to indicate how necessary it is to identify the species before starting upon any systematic scheme of control by larviciding. In a large municipal area any considerable swamp or any extensive system of open drains should be regarded as a separate Scheme Area.' Each should have its own own working plan, setting forth (a) A map of the area, with (c) The initial expenditure L |