Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 February 1916 — Army of Bats Fighting San Antonio’s Mosquitoes [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Army of Bats Fighting San Antonio’s Mosquitoes

SAN ANTONIO, TEX. —An armv of mosquito-eating bats, several thousand strong, has been turned loose in San Antonio. If, as has been predicted for it, the army succeeds in crippling seriously the activities of the germ-

laden mosquito population, many other cities may follow San Antonio’s example and establish their “municipal bat roosts.” Dr. C. A. R. Campbell, who has made a special study of bats, Is responsible for San Antonio’s bat roost. The institution came into existence last spring. It was not a success in its first year owing to the fact that it was established late in the spring, and Its population was not numerous enough.

This spring there is a large army of bats on hand and it has been given an early start. Doctor Campbell says that one bat in the course of a single day will eat 1,000 mosquitoes. He expects hordes of mosquitoes to perish daily, and that by the end of the summer the pestiferous insects will be almost, if not entirely, missing from this locality. Doctor Campbell says that the more malaria, typhoid and other germs • mosquito carries, the better the bat relishes it. _ After April 30 the bats grow less hungry and more sleepy. By the end of July their flight totals only about two hours. Soon thereafter the season for baby bats arrives. A neighboring city having written to Doctor Campbell asking him to get rid of mosquitoes, he replied: “Breed bats.” Then he got another letter inquiring, “But when you’Ve got rid of the mosquitoes, how do you get rid of the bats?" ■