872 



THE PRESENT EPIDEMIC OF MALARIA IN THE PORT 



OF BOMBAY : A DESCRIPTION OF THE MOSQUITO 



WHICH IS CARRYING THE DISEASE, WITH 



SOME REMARKS ON PREVENTIVE 



MEASURES. 



BY 



Capt. W. Glen Liston, I. M. S. 



( With 4 Illustrations.) 



[Read before the Bombay Natural History Society on 

 Mth September 1908.) 



In a paper which I read before this Society in 1905, entitled: 

 ' Plague Rats and Fleas,' I put forward reasons why a subject 

 like this, which, at first sight, appeared to be a medical one, should 

 be considered by a Natural History Society. To-day, in asking you 

 to bear with me while I tell you something about malaria, similar 

 reasons have prompted me to claim your indulgence. The reasons 

 are briefly these : Malaria, as I will show you, is as closely con- 

 nected with Natural History as it is with medicine, for while 

 quinine can generally cure the disease it is nevertheless more 

 important to prevent the spread of the malady than to attempt to 

 cure it, and this can only be done by those who have some know- 

 ledge of Natural History. 



Malaria is one of the most potent causes of sickness and death 

 in tropical lands ; it has been the greatest hindrance to the civiliza- 

 tion of these lands ; it has cost the British Empire, in the attempt 

 to accomplish this noble object, millions in men and money. The 

 cause of this loss, since the cure is now in our hands, is much to be 

 deplored and must be attributed, at least in great measure, to ignor- 

 ance of the cause and prevention of the disease. This subject, there- 

 fore, is well worthy of consideration not only by the medical profes- 

 sion but by the whole human race. It is a study which, when the 

 lessons it teaches have been applied, will be of the greatest benefit 

 to man. Briefly, it may be said that the cause and prevention of 

 malaria resolves itself into a study of the malaria parasite in man and 

 mosquito, such a study necessarily involves a knowledge of the 

 haunts and habits of mosquitoes, particularly those species of them 



