308 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 5 



was deemed advisable that the entomological part of the field work 

 should be thoroughly investigated. 



The writers, together, during the months of August, September and 

 October of 1911, visited the Massachusetts cities and towns named 

 hereunder, undertaking a careful and intensive study of the insect 

 life and history in the environment of cases. With very few exceptions 

 all the cases in the various towns were located either in dirty, unsani- 

 tary parts of the town, or were characteristically rural. • 



CITIES AND TOWNS VISITED 



Date of 1st Visit 

 July 30 

 Aug. 13 

 Aug. 1.5 

 Aug. 17 

 Aug. 24 

 Aug. 26 

 Aug. 30 

 Aug. 31 

 Sept. 6 

 Sept. 6 

 Sept. 7 

 Sept. 16 

 Sept. 16 

 Sept. 20 

 Sept. 2.5 

 Sept. 26 

 Sept. 26 



In attempting to discover and elucidate any connection between 

 insects and the spread of acute epidemic poliomyelitis, there are a 

 number of facts, which must be considered. Much that has already 

 been learned from clinical and epidemiological investigations can be 

 turned to account, not onlj' to reduce the number of insects which 

 might be suspected of transmitting this disease, but to, also suggest 

 certain a priori conclusions to be tested out, both in the field and by 

 exper imentation . 



Perhaps it may be as well to outline briefly the data which suggest 

 insects as carriers, as well as to enumerate such facts as appear signifi- 

 cant from an entomological standpoint. 



1. The sporadic occurrence of the cases; this is not easily explained 

 on the basis of ordinary contact infection, at least in many instances. 



2. The seasonal distribution of the disease which shows the largest 

 incidence during the warmer months, when insects of all sorts are most 

 prevalent. 



3. The failure on the part of many investigators to ascertain that 

 the disease spreads where a number of children are regularly in close 

 contact, as it seems, from reports so far published, to be the exception 

 rather than the rule for several in a family to contract the disease. 



