23 



fear of famine. While local campaigns are useful and extremely- 

 desirable, no permanent result can be expected until the campaign 

 becomes an international one. 



Particulars are given of the amazing fecundity of the brown rat, 

 the U.S. Public Health Service estimating that in cities the rat 

 population equals the human, while in country districts it is three or 

 four times as great. Besides destroying vast quantities of human 

 food, rats do considerable damage to poultry and other domestic 

 animals. 



In addition to transmitting bubonic plague, the house-rat is known 

 to convey infection of trichinosis, septic pneumonia, epidemic jaundice, 

 and rat-bite fever, and is unquestionably a potential distributor of 

 diphtheria, typhoid, scarlet fever, and infantile paralysis, being as a 

 disease carrier the form of vermin deadliest to mankind. 



Blanchard (R.). Le Danger du Paludisme et de la Fi^vre jaune en 

 France ; Moyens de I'^viter. [The Danger of Malaria and Yellow 

 Fever in France; Methods of Prevention.] — Bull. Acad. Med., 

 Paris, Ixxvii, no. 21, 22nd May 1917, pp. 657-669. 



In the course of an investigation into parasitic diseases in the summer 

 of 1916, particularly among native troops of the French army, the 

 author recorded the presence on the French Mediterranean coast of 

 Anopheles maculipennis, a carrier of malaria in France, and also of 

 Stegomyia fasciata (calopus), the carrier of yellow fever. This is the 

 first definite record of the latter mosquito in France, where, judging 

 from its abundance at Nice, it apparently finds idea] conditions for its 

 existence. A. maculipen7iis probably occurs throughout the whole 

 Mediterranean region, S. fasciata already occurring in Spain and 

 throughout the Mediterranean Coast. On 19th September, a prefectoral 

 decree was published ordering a campaign against mosquitos and 

 indicating the necessary measures to be taken. 



The author reviews the distribution of the five principal malaria- 

 carrying mosquitos occurring in Europe, of which A. bifurcatus, 

 A. algeriensis (probably synonymous with bifurcatus), and A. maculi- 

 fennis are found in France. The greater immunity of the English 

 troops in the Macedonian campaign is attributed entirely to the better 

 sanitary conditions of their expeditionary force. 



Stegomyia fasciata must be considered henceforth as belonging to 

 the entomological fauna of southern France, its introduction being 

 probably due to the transport to France of native troops from Senegal. 

 These soldiers are subjected to an insufficient medical examination 

 before leaving Africa ; if, therefore, a case of yellow fever exists among 

 them, the presence of S. fasciata on board will preserve the virus and 

 infect others, who, upon their arrival in France, will in turn infect the 

 indigenous mosquitos and thus an epidemic of yellow fever is 

 inevitable. In the face of this prospect, it is well to remember that 

 S. fasciata is considered capable of being a mechanical vector of the 

 trypanosome of sleeping sickness. The author urges the necessity of a 

 detailed inquiry into the distribution of Anopheles in France, no 

 systematic study of the Anopheline fauna having yet been made ; he 

 also suggests the division of France into sections each headed by a 



