16 



the imagines. The flies breed in cracks and crevices in the ground 

 and in old walls ; the adults are gregarious and their breeding-places 

 become soiled with their excreta containing the post-flagellate stages 

 of the parasite, thus explaining how the larvae acquire their infection. 

 All the evidence points to the parasite of Oriental sore being acquired 

 by rubbing Herpetomonas jMebotomi into the skin when an infected 

 sand-fly is crushed while biting, and this is a frequent occurrence 

 on all exposed surfaces of the body, which are the only parts where 

 Oriental sore has been known to occur. The disease, although common, 

 is definitely locahsed to certain camps, strongly suggesting that the 

 infection of sand-flies with H. jMebolomi is also localised. An attempt 

 was made to dissect the ahmentary tracts of sand-flies, examining 

 them in a fresh condition, selecting an infected hind-gat and rabbing 

 this into the skin at a marked spot. Unfortunately, no infected 

 flies could be found at the time. It is hoped that others will be able 

 to complete the experiment, noting whether the fly has or has not 

 previously ingested the blood of the gecko. 



Ckespin (J.) & Athias (G.). Le Paludisme a Alger. Difficultes du 

 Diagnostic avec la Fievre typhoide. Cas de PI. falciparum.— 

 Bull. Soc. Path. Exot., Paris, xii, no. 8, 8th October 1919, pp. 504- 

 509. 



The danger of considering any particular locahty as being absolutely 

 free from endemic malaria is pointed out. The town of Algiers has 

 always been considered perfectly healthy from the malarial point of 

 view, the fairly numerous cases that have occurred there having been 

 contracted outside the town. Exceptions to this rule have, however, 

 occurred in two individuals, whose illness was at first diagnosed as 

 t}^hoid fever, but upon further examination they were found to be 

 suffering from locally accjuired malaria, neither of them having left 

 the town of Algiers. The parasite concerned was Plasmodium praecox 

 {falciparum). 



Tejera (E.). La Trypanosome am6ricaine ou JLaladie de Chagas au 

 Venezuela. — Bull. Soc. Path. Exot., Paris, xii, no. 8, 8th October 

 1919, pp. 509-513. 



The occurrence of American trypanosomiasis or Chagas disease is 

 recorded from Venezuela, the vector undoubtedly being the bug, 

 Rhodnius jyrolixus, Stal. Trypanosomes recovered from the blood of 

 mice, guinea-pigs and monkeys inoculated with the virus all showed 

 the morphological characters of T. cruzi. Larvae of R. jJ^'oUxus 

 hatched in the laboratory and fed upon infected mice all showed 

 identical trypanosomes and were able to re-infect other animals. 

 A systematic examination of the blood of the inhabitants of the region 

 revealed the presence of the trypanosome in human blood. In the 

 author's opinion the disease is not of recent introduction into Venezuela. 

 In locahties where infected individuals of R. pirolixus are found, goitre 

 is very prevalent, which tends to confirm Chagas' theory that goitre 

 in Brazil is produced by T. cruzi. Triatoma {Conorhinus) megista, 

 the vector of trypanosomiasis in Brazil, does not apparently occur in 

 Venezuela. 



