170 PROCEEDINGS ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



other way to travel than on foot. Even if they had escaped con- 

 trol, the nights would not have been long; enough to let them reach 

 a place where they might have found what is suggested, nor would 

 that help in any way, as there was and is no malaria in those places. 

 Arguing like that you might also say that the Italian sailors w r ho 

 got yellow^ fever on board of a man-of-war anchored in Rio harbor 

 far away from the land, were attacked because they swam on shore 

 at night time, following a classical example. 



Messrs. Dyar and Knab think that mosquitoes, which have 

 never been in contact with men before, cannot transmit disease. 

 In order to test their thesis, you must put men in absolutely un- 

 inhabited places. This is, generally speaking, rather difficult, but 

 it so happens that in Brazil roads and railways have been made in 

 such conditions and nearly always there have been epidemics of 

 malaria. I know also of epidemics of Leishmania sores, with good 

 reasons attributed to the transmission by Phlebotomus, observed 

 in absolutely deserted zones. I have also seen a small yellow fever 

 epidemic amongst people living in a place where only wood mos- 

 quitoes could be expected. All this shows that the theoretical 

 considerations have not been respected by the facts and all that 

 is wanted is that the transmitter, whatever may be its past, be- 

 long to a category in which the parasite can thrive; then it must 

 have repeated access to human beings, some of them being in- 

 fected and some not immune. As the process of development 

 takes time, its life must not be too short. For that reason repeated 

 oviposition is a favorable condition. 



Thus the discussion from my side is closed but I fully maintain 

 the correctness of mv observations. 



ON A COLLECTION OF NEUROPTEROID INSECTS FROM 

 THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 



BY NATHAN BANKS, Bureau of Entomology. 



During the past year Prof. C. F. Baker has been sending me 

 Xeuropteroid insects from the Philippines for determination. 

 Hardly any forms were recorded previously, and since most of 

 them are new, it is desirable to publish the descriptions. Hardly 

 sufficient material is yet available to show the relationships of the 

 fauna, and very little is known from Borneo, but from Java a con- 

 siderable number are described and some of these occur in the 

 Philippines, but more often related species. 



The 39 species here recorded are all from one island of the group 

 and from a restricted part of that island. It is therefore probable 



