512 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, XVIII. 



No. XXVI.— SWEEPING FOR MOTHS. 



It may interest those who are working at the Lepidoptera heterocera to 

 know that I found sweeping with a butterfly net an excellent way of captur- 

 ing varied species of Syntomidce. When on the plains last hot weather I took 

 quite a number of specimens of S. aperiens and S. gelatina by sweeping my net 

 lightly over the leaves of bushes and grasses by the roadside, and here in 

 Gooty I have recently taken a fine lot of S. ochreipuncta, of which I had 

 previously seen only two specimens in this locality, by the same method. 



W. HOWARD CAMPBELL. 



Gooty, 28th October 1907. 



No. XXVII.— FLEAS AND PLAGUE. 



Now that most people are agreed that it is fairly well established that fleas 

 have a good deal to do with the spread of plague.it might be worth considering 

 whether fleas do not prefer certain conditions to others and whether those 

 places in India in which plague has never got a real hold, do not possess in 

 common certain properties, either in the soil on which they are built or in 

 the nature of their climate, which are antagonistic to the propagation of 

 the flea. 



To take an instance, Shikarpur is a very congested town of 50,000 inhabitants 

 in the Sukkur District of the province of Sind. Its state is far from sanitary, 

 and yet, although plague has attacked several adjacent places, I believe that 

 no indigenous case of plague has occurred here : there have been several 

 mported cases. The Civil Surgeon of Shikarpur, who has been studying the 

 question, informs me that, though rats are plentiful in the town, very few 

 fleas are to be found on the specimens captured, and that the town is singularly 

 free from fleas. Anyone would imagine that Shikarpur would be infested with 

 fleas, the houses are closely-packed, composed of small dark rooms seldom 

 aired or cleaned. Again, the rats are said to be different to the rat of 

 Bombay. 



Some attempt is, I believe, being made to collect specimens of rats through- 

 out India for purposes of investigation whether any particular specimen 

 appears to be more prone than others to infection by plague. 



It would be interesting if the investigation could be extended to include 

 inquiries as to the prevalence, or the contrary, of fleas in the districts affected 

 by plague and in those that have suffered least. Such an investigation might 

 result in valuable information. 



Possibly a geological and meteorological investigation of places where plague 

 has and has not been prevalent, would also be of much assistance in solving the 

 problems connected with plague. 



E. L. SALE. 



Sukkur, Sind, 22th October 1907. 



