June 19.
At this time of the year when men bare their knees in public and women stoically dispense with silk slockings, a ruthless war is waged against humanity by a mobile and almost invisible army, Bisexual though it be, its female' combatant is, as always, deadlier than the male. For the female has learnt to seek sustenance from human blood. The male is usually vegetarian, con~ servatively clinging to tradition, but the bloodsuckers who constitute the spear-head of this aggression are all females. 'This menace to Shang-hollanders' welfare and comfort takes the deceptive name of little fly—Mosquito in fact. There are two main divisions: the Anophelines and the Cullcines. They wonderfully combine to outwit their victims. Whereas the Anophelines to work silently and relentlessly in attacking the human body and clude In their ranks the deadly bloodsuckers, the Culicines make plenty of noise to advertise their presence but, like the dog's bark, it far worse than the bite. This combination thus confuses the objects of attack for seldom can the aMicted human know, without expert assistance or subsequent experience, whether the assailant isan Anopheline in search of blood or a Culleine biting him for fun. 'The distinction is important as the deadlier Mosquito carries malaria which eventually lays the victim very low. This warfare clearly' reconciles' ancient and—modern methods. The attackers enter into battle to the sound of trumpets for which the Culicines make them~ selves responsible. They achieve their purpose by the eventual pro-paration of disease, through the Anophelines, in defiance of International Convention—obviously a most up-to-date technique.—The defenders know that the Anopheline carries a lump in her thorax—a ruse denied to the Cullcine but the difference is seldom discernible to the naked human eye and micros~ copes are expensive articles of equipment for an army which has to consider the susceptibilities of Finance Ministers obsessed by the need for balancing their budgets.
The defenders rely on the genius of their Public Health Department} which has sworn as deadly a foud against the Anophelines as ever was sworn against the Clan Mactavish. "The Culicines are ignored—indecd it would be a waste of time to bother about them, although, of course, their activities, mistaken by the ignorant for Anopheline aggression occasionally cause di larin, despondency and plentiful irritation. The Public Health heroes! have now constructed elaborate defences. They search for sites where the Mosquito hordes breed their Anopheline fighters. They fil up ponds and pools and, here, they are assisted by the Telephone and Power Folk who refuse to allow poles and standards to give cover fo the enemy, Nor is the Public Works Department idle. So far as funds permit, that corps of Engineers encourages landowners to make their property mosquito-proof and deals with the breeding grounds in creeks and other watery expanses, In the _surrounding country where mosquitoes raise huge armies for attack on the Settlement, reconnaissance is tenta~ tively made with the kind permission and ce-operation of, the governing authorities. And ' the defenders have also recruited a marvellous corps d'elite which has a hereditary hatred of the Anophelines—in fact feeds upon
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.