rTO THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATES:1
am grateful to Major G. E. Bruce for directing my
attention to Mr. Boulenger's article in the August number of the Annals and Magazine of Natural History. But Major Bruce's letter seems to confuse two points which are quite distinct. The first point is the value of the "millions" and other carnivorous cyprinodonts as destroyers of mosquitoes : this has been established by experiments and proved over and over again; nor will it I believe, be disputed. The other point is a minor one—namely, the reason for the absence of the anopheles from Barbados. The theory which was men- tioned in your article was based upon the observations of Major Hodder in St. Lucia, and of others in India and in Sierra Leone, as to the breeding habits of the anopheles. If the anopheles does breed in hollow trees, broken pitchers, and roof gutters, the theory cannot hold good ; but if it be a fact that larva; of the anopheles are never found in water above the ground level, then the surmise that the " millions " prevent this particular mosquito from establishing itself in Barbados may not be an unreasonable one. It is a question of evidence.
Hedenham.
[This correspondence cannot be continued.—En. Spectator.]
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