98 



of a belt round high ground, denying access to game, also protected 

 the high ground. As settlement is bound to be the eventual policy, 

 it cannot be said that the ultimate future of the Mozambique Com- 

 pany's infested areas is seriously compromised by the presence in 

 them of these flies. 



Barraud (P. J.). Mosquitos collected in Palestine and Adjacent 

 Territories.— 5a//. Ent. Res., London, xi, pt. 4, March 1921, 

 pp. 387-395. 



The topography of the various regions in relation to mosquito 

 incidence in Palestine is discussed. From November to April there 

 is heavy rainfall over the larger part of the country, with much less 

 rain in the deserts of the south. In summer the whole country 

 becomes arid, and the inhabitants of towns and villages depend upon 

 wells or rain-water collected in catchment tanks. In some localities 

 there are perennial streams that sometimes form extensive marshy 

 tracts where mosquitos breed during the greater part of the year. 

 The major portion of Palestine, especially the central and northern 

 regions, Syria and Cilicia are malarious ; a fairly high percentage 

 of the native population is infected, and Anophelines abound. The 

 malaria season practically corresponds with the dry period, that is, 

 from May to November. In early summer the Bedouins, with their 

 flocks, descend to the plains for pasture and water ; it has been 

 thought that they may have been disseminators of the disease, but 

 definite investigations have not been made in this respect ; it may 

 be that the presence of their many domestic animals protects them ; 

 the conditions under which these are stabled would seem to be 

 favourable for the feeding and sheltering of Anophelines. 



One of the most abundant domestic mosquitos of the country is 

 A. bifurcatus, which occurs very numerously in the rain-water cisterns 

 found beneath and around most private houses. In Jerusalem there 

 are more than 4,000 of these basement cisterns, besides ancient drains 

 and sewers, from which it is impossible to exclude mosquitos ; large 

 surface wells protected by masonry also form breeding-places. The 

 abolition of these, and the provision of an adequate piped water supply 

 to all the towns, is an urgent and important problem. 



In Eg3'pt, where the incidence of malaria is much less, the three 

 chief malaria carriers of Palestine, A. macidipennis, A. bifurcatus 

 and A. superpictiis, are practicalh^ unknown. A. multicolor is there 

 considered to be the principal carrier. It is abundant in the Canal 

 zone and in the oases, where malaria is most prevalent, and where 

 the population is largely a nomadic one, tending to .spread the disease 

 from place to place. All the species of Anophelines as yet found 

 in Egypt occur also in Palestine, in spite of the wide strip of waterless 

 desert separating the two countries. There are, however, four or five 

 species in Palestine that are absent from Egypt. 



The larvae of A. maciilipemiis, Mg., var., are usually found in 

 natural waters, both fresh and brackish. The adults are found in large 

 numbers in tents and huts in camps, and frequently cause a heavy 

 incidence of malaria. They sometimes travel a considerable distance 

 from their breeding-grounds. Breeding commences in April and May 

 in the marshy coastal belt of Palestine ; in the Jordan valley, at points 

 below sea-level, it probably begins earlier. Larvae of A. multicolor, 



