324 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 5 



death the child Ijecame sick and was paralyzed. Another case in 

 the rural district, Meridian St., was found to have Herpes Zoster 

 complicating acute epidemic poliomyelitis. The father, a teamster in 

 business for himself, kept four or five horses in the stable at rear of 

 house. Stomoxys was unusually abunda-nt here, as were also mosqui- 

 toes, but no sick animals. The child had marks of bites on his body. 

 A month before the attack the family were living at a nearby beach. 

 The child was often placed on the horses' back and led around the 

 grounds. An interesting case in an adult male, 73 years old, was 

 seen, which gave a history of bites by stable flies, followed in a week 

 by fel)rile attack and paralysis of one arm. 



Summary 



Nothing absolutely definite has hitherto been ascertained regarding 

 the channels of infection of acute epidemic poliomyelitis. 



Many facts connected with the distribution of cases and the spread 

 of epidemics of this disease together with histories of insect bites 

 suggest at least that the disease may be insect-borne. 



Field work during the past summer together with a consideration 

 of the epidemiology of the disease so far as known, points strongly 

 toward biting flies as possible carriers of the virus. It seems probable 

 that the common stable fly {Stomoxys calcitrans L.) may be responsi- 

 ale to a certain extent for the spread of acute epidemic poliomyelitis, 

 possibly aided by other biting flies such as Tahanus lineola. No facts 

 which dis]3rove such a hj^Dothesis have as yet been adduced, and 

 experiments based upon it are now in progress. 



If the disease should prove to be common to any sj^ecies of domestic 

 animals, as is now strongly suspected, a secondary connection of ticks 

 in spreading the disease among such animals seems probable, as has 

 been mentioned earlier in this paper. 



From the investigation during 1911 it has become apparent that if 

 acute epidemic poliomyelitis is an insect-borne disease, there must 

 exist some factors in its spread which are as yet far from clear; and 

 from the knowledge so far gained, apparently more complex than 

 those involved in most of the insect-borne diseases hitherto elucidated. 



The relation between human paralysis and animal paralysis or 

 kindred diseases, is as yet very imperfectly understood, and it seems 

 possible that studies along this line, if undertaken from an entomologi- 

 cal standpoint, might serve to advance our knowledge concerning the 

 spread of acute epidemic poliomyelitis in man. 



