June, '12] DOANE: INSECTS AND DISEASE 269 



(1) As & disease in animals. 



(2) Pestis minor, conveyed by infected insects. 



(3) Bubonic plague, sporadic cases, carried from animals to man bj- insects. 



(4) Epidemic bubonic plague carried from man to man by insects. 



(5) Pneumonic plague passing from man to man directly, or conveyed by insects. 



The latter is regarded as the culmination and the most to be dreaded 

 as it may pass over a region as the Black Death. 



The Public Health Reports show that the work against the ground 

 squirrels in California is being pushed vigourosly and that infected 

 squirrels are still being found. One death from plague occurred in 

 California during the past year which was directly traceable to infec- 

 tion from the squirrels. Two other cases, both of which recovered, 

 were also probably the results of squirrel infection. 



October 23, 1911, press dispatches announced the arrival of another 

 shij) in Hawaii on which a yellow fever patient had died. Soon after 

 this we read of Doctor Blue being sent to these islands and of the 

 energetic fight that was begun to control the mosquitoes there. It 

 is to be hoped that such warnings as these will be heeded by the inhab- 

 itants of these islands and that more determined efforts will be made to 

 get rid of this constant and ever increasing source of danger. 



Sir Robert Boyce's paper in regard to the prevalence and significance 

 of the yellow fever mosquito in Africa has caused considerable dis- 

 cussion in the medical journals. 



The aiDpearance of Doctor Howard's book on the housefly and the 

 reports of Graham-Smith and others given in the Reports of the Lc ^ 

 Government Board for Great Britain are important additions to ou • 

 literature in regard to the housefly and its relation to various diseases. 

 Doctor Stiles' experiments showing the abihty of the fly to issue even 

 when the larvae is buried under six feet of sand is certainly a strong 

 argument against the effectiveness of the dry system of disposal of 

 faeces. 



Late in the summer a second field commission for the investigation 

 of pellagra was organized with Doctor Sambon at its head. He was 

 joined by workers from several different countries and a studj' Avas 

 made of the disease and the conditions surrounding it in Roumania, 

 Hungary, Austria, Italy, Spain and France. The interim report 

 which they have made seems to indicate that they found some evidence 

 both for and against Sambon's theory that this disease is transmitted 

 by Simulidse. 



The studies of Sanders and Long on the relation of insects to the 

 transmission of Leprosy are of considerable interest as they both reach 

 the conclusion that the bedbug may be an important factor in spread- 

 ing the disease. 



