THE MOSQUITO PEST.

Putaruru Press, Volume VI, Issue 232, 12 April 1928, Page 6

THE MOSQUITO PEST.

SMALL, FISH FKOM ITALY. One of the ponds in the Botanic Gardens is teeming with millions of small fish (says a Sydney paper). They are not m,ore than an inch in length, but it is their smaLness that gives them a hundredfold value over the larger fish that are to be found in our ponds and swamps. The particular fish in question, it is claimed, is capable of ridding Australia of the mosquito pest, and consequently end malaria and yellow fever scourges, ' i 1

The fish, which will be distributed in ponds throughout the metropolitan area—this only as a start—were imported to Sydney from the Rockefeller Foundation, Rome, by Mr W. Vogwell, chief health inspector of the city. “ I brought 500 with me,” said Mr Vogwell, “ put them in the pond, and now, after twelve months, there are millions of them. When in Rome I was told that the fish had been put to splendid use in the malaria-infested areas of Italy, Spain, America, and Albania.

“ Their smallness is their virtue, for they can get to the sides of the ponds and swamps, where the mosquitoes lay their eggs. Furthermore, they are possessed of terrible appetites; in fact, they are gluttons. They breed prolifically, and imemdiately they are hatched the young fish attack the mosquito lar--vae.

“ In view of the fact that the fish, known as the Gambulia Affinis, are ridding the swamps of other malariainfected countries, we are hoping for the same results in this country. “ In the north, where the malariainfected mosquito is prevalent, the fish should be of even greater value than in New South Wales. Queensland has already asked me to give them a supply. “ I may add that in this particular pond in the Botanic Gardens, which at Sbe time was a prolfiie breeding area for the mosquito, there is no sign of either the eggs or the larvae.”