396 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1952 



Institution. A duplicate series is on file here for the use of American 

 investigators. It is now possible, by correlation with mosquito data, 

 to distinguish potentially dangerous bromeliad populations from 

 harmless ones. 



A further refinement in control is the ecological study of the rela- 

 tion between the bromeliads and the trees upon which they perch. 

 Veloso has accumulated the ecological data and is waiting while var- 

 ious systematic botanists, including myself, complete the identifica- 

 tion of his trees. Until now Veloso has assembled data by using 

 numbers and local popular names to designate his species. When 

 complete, this report will help determine which types of forest are 

 most rapidly invaded by bromeliads and where controls will need to 

 be reapplied soonest, and its scientific names will make the information 

 usable outside Santa Catarina should bromeliad malaria appear else- 

 where in tropical America. 



Studies of the mosquitoes will show at what height in the forest 

 the principal carriers breed, and in turn prove whether it is necessary 

 to reach all the forest or only certain levels when using herbicide. 



Herbicide control technique has been the main research in the 

 Brusque laboratory. To date, a way of controlling the low coastal 

 forest has been found, but the laboratory is still experimenting to 

 find a way to reach the high forest which predominates farther 

 inland. Spraying from the ground does not reach the bromeliads 

 in the tops of the highest trees effectively, and so far spraying from 

 planes has been equally futile. 



Ottis R. Causey, representative of the Rockefeller Foundation in 

 Brazil, has developed a telescoped pole which is elevated by compressed 

 air. It can be used to elevate the nozzle to the level of high trees 

 and is capable of spraying bromeliads individually. In combination 

 with ground spray for the lower levels it might provide the means 

 for controlling some of the interior forests, but there has not been 

 time to test it thoroughly yet. 



At the same time the Servico Nacional de Malaria has been study- 

 ing the data accumulated during the campaign with interesting results. 

 Table 1, compiled from unpublished data, shows comparative statis- 

 tics for five of the cities that were cleared of malaria. Note that 

 Florianopolis controlled malaria by hand removal of bromeliads and 

 that Brusque succeeded with deforestation. Blumenau and Join- 

 vile used DDT in houses in addition to deforestation, and Itacorobi 

 used only DDT in houses from 1948 on. Constant comparisons of 

 the effectiveness and cost of these operations will point the way to 

 further control or their adaption to fight possible epidemics elsewhere. 



