38 



this a sudden departure from normal conditions, or has develop- 

 ment been going on gradually for years, culminating in the fine 

 forms now shown ? 



Now that the war is well ended, one wonders what effect its 

 lessons will have upon our governments ; will they realise the 

 necessity for helping Science by more liberally endowing colleges 

 and institutions for research ? There has been some talk of 

 appointing an Economic Entomologist in each county to deal with 

 both noxious and beneficial insects ; improving our knowledge of 

 their life-histories, and their effect on agriculture and fruit-growing. 

 These things are as important in this country as in those other 

 parts of the Empire where local governments have already made 

 advances in this direction. 



The war has taught us much with regard to the external parasites 

 of man and their influence in the spread of disease, and numerous 

 books have already appeared, embodying the knowledge gained in 

 the war hospitals. When our troops were occupying Thasos, one 

 of the ^gean islands, the Anopheline gnats were very troublesome, 

 as the Greeks*, instead of trying to combat them, accepted the 

 malarial conditions, with consequent lowering of their vitality. 

 Aerodromes had to be built in low-lying, flat country, and the sick 

 rate was very high. In one case a military guard of 84 men was, 

 in a few weeks, reduced to 14 ; but by draining the marsh and 

 clearing the bushes from around the camp, the place was rendered 

 more habitable. In such a place the presence of olive trees has a 

 marked influence on malaria, the flowers attracting the mosquitoes and 

 aftbrding them food they would otherwise seek from human victims- 

 Mr. L. M. Morris considers that two years of Government activity 

 would eradicate malaria from Thasos. 



In not a few instances the control of disease is determined by the 

 solution of the insect problem, and this is notably true of bubonic 

 plague and fleas, typhus and lice, yellow-fever and malaria and 

 mosquitos. The intimate relation between insects and disease, 

 though known to be very real, is less evident in the case of flies and 

 such affections as cholera, typhoid fever, dysentery, and probably 

 tuberculosis, for we know that insects may be carriers of all these 

 diseases. 



It has always been somewhat of a puzzle to know what becomes 



• The degenerate character of the Greek is said to be largely due to 

 repeated attacks of malaria, which lower the mental, moral and physical con- 

 ditions of the people. 



