Genetic control is defined, and previous work on the application of this principle to Anopheles quadrimaculatus Say is reviewed. The failure of release experiments with sterilized males of this species has been attributed to the behavioristic inferiority of sterilized laboratory bred males as compared with normal or field bred males. A biological system based upon the production of sterile males through crossing members of the A. gambiae complex is proposed. Preliminary laboratory and computer studies were made to determine the number of sterile males to be released in field trials. A preliminary field trial was conducted near Bobo Dioulasso, Upper Volta, using a sterile male produced by crossing a gambiae species B population from Nigeria with an A. melas (Theobald) population from Liberia. Over a period of 2 months 300,000 pupae were released. The number of sterile males was insufficient to produce control. However, for a period of more than 6 weeks, 75% of the males captured in the study village proved to be sterile.

It is concluded that the relative lack of progress in this area is essentially due to financial limitations on research being conducted on anopheline genetics rather than to inherent technical problems.