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bisulphide, 12 lb. of 130 per cent, sodium cyanide and 12 lb. tetra- 

 chlorethane being used. The house was entered 48 hours after 

 fumigation. There was no complaint from neighbours, no damage to 

 property and the house was completely cleared. The cost of the 

 chemicals used was about two guineas. 



NicoLL (W.). The Conditions of Life in Tropical Australia. — Jl. 

 Hygiene, Cambridge, xvi, no. 3, December 1917, pp. 269-290. 



Insects are an important factor in influencing the conditions under 

 which Europeans in tropical Australia are obliged to live. While the 

 house-fly [Musca domestica] is less common than in England, Stomoxys 

 calcitrans and Tabanus spp. are numerous. Stegomyia fasciata and 

 Cidex fatigans are common domestic mosquitos ; Anophelines are much 

 less abundant, Anopheles macidipennis being the species most 

 frequently encountered. Ants are ubiquitous household pests, all food 

 requiring to be most carefully screened from them and protected by 

 ant traps. Their presence, although undesirable, is harmless, and they 

 probably are of some value as scavengers. Cockroaches, principally 

 Blatta {Periplaneta) orientalis^ are equally troublesome in houses and 

 frequently attack the bindings of books. 



Both birds and frogs constitute important enemies of insect life in 

 Australia ; the tree frogs, Hyla arborea, H. gracilenta and H. aurea, all 

 occur in great numbers and are particularly useful against household 

 insects, frequently entering houses, where their presence, within 

 reason, is undoubtedly beneficial. Lizards and snakes are probably 

 useful in a similar manner. 



Among human parasites, both fleas and lice occur, but apparently 

 not in excessive numbers. Xenopsylla cheopis (Indian rat-flea) is 

 probably the commonest, but Pulex irritans and Ceratophyllus 

 fasciatus also occur on rats. Phthirius pubis is a common human 

 parasite and Pediculus capitis and P. humanus (corporis) are not 

 uncommon. 



Dengue fever is considered to have been the cause of more sickness 

 than any other disease in tropical Australia. Its occurrence is 

 apparently seasonal, but an epidemic may extend over the better part 

 of a year. Malaria is comparatively uncommon in Noith Queensland. 

 The majority of cases originating in Australia are of the benign tertian 

 type, though many serious cases are imported from adjoining regions, 

 such as New Guinea. While outbreaks of plague have occurred, it has 

 not become established in the continent, owing largely to efficient 

 quarantine measures and to the sparsity of the population. 



Fletcher (T. B.). Report of the Imperial Pathological Entomologist. — 



Scientific Reports Agric. Research Institute, Pusa, for 1916-17 ; 

 Calcutta, 1917, pp. 91-102. [Received 14th January 1918.] 



The fly, Chrysomyia [Pycnosoma) flaviceps, the life-cycle of which is 

 about 38 days, is strongly attracted to putrefying meat or dead animals 

 and is capable of infecting meat by dropping its eggs through wire 

 gauze. It is also attracted to over-ripe mango fruits and to a plant, 

 probably a species of Justicia, which is also attractive to many other 

 Diptera. Maggots extracted from human nostrils, from tumours, and 

 from the foot of a cow suffering from foot and mouth disease weie 



