139 



horse was still infective 90 days after injection of the virus. It is 

 possible that donkeys, dogs and goats may prove to be susceptible. 

 The fact that horse-sickness appears in parts of x\frica where there 

 have been no equincs points definitely to a non-equine as the reservoir. 



Ward 1 1: (R. A). The Protection of Meat Commodities against 



Blowflies. — Aiui. App. lUoL, Cambridge, viii, no. 1, June 1921, 

 pp. 1-9. 



Substances containing animal proteins, especially albumins and 

 globulins, are preferred by blowflies for oviposition, but albuminoid 

 substances are not attractive. As the stimulus to oviposition, whether 

 olfactory or gustatory, apparently lies in the exuding juices such as 

 blood and muscle plasma, the protein content, to be suitable, must 

 not have been coagulated by heat or washed out by water or salt 

 solution. Further experiments may indicate that amino-acids con- 

 tain the stimulus to oviposition, and that in Calliphora this is chiefly 

 gustatory, whilst in Sarcopliaga it is olfactory. This would account 

 for the difference in response to skatol. There is a great difference 

 in response to light between species of Calliphora and Lucilia. This 

 would also account for the predominance of C. vomitoria in houses 

 and like situations, where the odours from dark places may attract 

 it more readily. Lucilia caesar, on the other hand, is very strongly 

 phototactic. Both species are apparently equally chemotactic. 

 Lucilia presumably prefers carrion in bulk, and is primarily a fly 

 infesting carcases in the open ; it thus does not have the economic 

 significance of CallipJiora as regards foodstuffs. 



Repellent substances may be divided into those directly applicable 

 to foodstuffs and those indirectly applicable. Of the former, 

 precipitated chalk will protect fresh meat as long as it remains 

 unsaturated by exuding juices of muscle plasma or putrefaction. 

 Of the various substances applied indirectly, aniseed oil proved 

 most effective. A cotton net with a quarter inch mesh was 

 impregnated with the oil by moistening the palms of the hands and 

 rolling the net between them. This method protected the meat for 

 24 hours. The efficiency of emulsions and dilutions of the oil vary 

 directly in proportion to the percentage of oil present. 



The Malarial Danger. — Med. Jl. Australia, Svdncv, 8th Year, i, no. 19, 

 7th May 1921, pp. 385-386. 



Several cases of indigenous malaria ha\'e recently been recorded 

 from Australia. The need for preventing its spread b}- controlling 

 the intermediary hosts is emphasised. 



Anopheles (Nyssorhynchns) annul ipes is apparently the mosquito 

 chiefly concerned in the transmission of the disease. 



DoDD (S.). Tick Paralysis.— .•l,«';'/r. Gaz. N.SAV., Svdnev, xxxii, 

 nos. 4 and 5, April and May 1921, pp. 265-272, 331-337. 



On the eastern coast of Australia a paralysis that is most common 

 in domesticated animals, and is occasionally reported in human beings, 

 is well known, and has been ascribed to a tick. The disease generally 

 occurs in spring and summer, i.e., when ticks are most prevalent in 

 the bush. In the more northern parts of Australia, where the winters 

 are seldom cold enough to arrest the life-cycle of ticks in general, it 

 may occur at any period of the year. In susceptible individuals one 

 (4057) L 2 



