318 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 5 



Maine Railroad run daily, passing through Winchester, Somerville 

 and several other towns, and connecting with the line for Lowell at 

 Winchester. Trolley cars run from Woburn through Winchester to 

 Boston, and also connect it wdth Lowell. The principal industry is 

 the tanning and manufacture of leather, and the refuse from these 

 establishments is disposed of in open fields about the town. A settling 

 tank from one tannery forms a public nuisance near the central part 

 of the town, occupying a field about which are ranged at least four of 

 the cases of epidemic poliomyelitis. 



The town is a thickly settled center with three outlying villages, 

 and an area occupied by a small rural population. The central portion 

 is connected with the metropolitan sewer system, and obtains its 

 water supply from Horn Pond, a large body of water upon the out- 

 skirts of the town proper. 



In this town of 15,000 inhabitants 14 cases were discovered (an 

 incidence of practically 1 per 1,000 of population), two deaths, i. e., 

 about 14% fAtal. The homes of the cases in this and other towns 

 mentioned later we visited and investigated thoroughly. A detailed 

 analysis of all the cases will later be made in a general report of the 

 year's work. In the environment of each case, biting flies, mosquitoes 

 and the ordinary series of domestic insects were observed. In one 

 case in a typically rural district an epidemic disease among pigs, 

 characterized by paralysis, was reported earlier in the season than the 

 date on which the case of acute epidemic poliomyelitis occurred in 

 the child. In this neighborhood were a number of the stable flies and 

 a few house flies. 



In another case situated in the tow^n proper, w"lthin 20 yards of the 



railroad yard a cat was reported to have been paralyzed before the 



^ child took the infection. Some biting flies were discovered on this 



house. A second case had its origin in the immediate neighborhood. 



Somerville. Population approximately 77,000. 



Somerville is in Middlesex County, situated as are Woburn and 

 Winchester in the Mystic Valley. It is very intimately connected 

 with Boston by the Boston and Maine Railroad and by seven lines of 

 electric cars. Much of the teaming and railroad traffic between 

 Boston and Woburn, Winchester and Lowell passes through Somerville 

 in both directions. Its activities are mainly of an urban character, 

 including various manufacturing industries. 



Ten cases occurred in this town, an incidence per 1,000 of approxi- 

 mately .13. The usual series of domestic insects were observed in 

 the environment of these cases, including Stomoxys. In one case a 

 history was obtained that one month before the attack in July the 



