181 



PoETER (C. E.). Notas de Acarologfa. Un Caso de Otocariasis en el 

 Norte de Chile. [Acarological Notes: A Case of Otacariasis in 

 the North of Chile.] — Anales Zool. ApUcada, Santiago de Chile, 

 iv, no. 2, 31st July 1917, p. 30. [Received 31st July 1918.] 



Ornithodorus talaje, Guer., is recorded as having been taken from 

 the ear of a cowherd in northern Chile. 



Las Garrapatas y nuestro Ganado. [Ticks and our Live-Stock.] — 

 Rev. Agricultura, Santo Domingo (Haiti), xiv, no, 3, 30th June 

 1918, pp. 88-91. 



A dipping-tank being in course of construction at the Agronomical 

 Station at Haina, the pubhcation of this paper on ticks is thought 

 advisable. It contains information about ticks and the methods of 

 combating them and states that eradication could be completed in 

 the Republic within six months, if all proper measures were taken. 



Morris (H.). Blood-sucking Insects as Transmitters of Anthrax or 

 Charhon.— Louisiana State Univ. Agric. Expt. Sta., Baton Rouge, 

 Bull. no. 163, March 1918, 15 pp., 2 figs. [Received 18th July 

 1918.] 



This paper deals with experiments conducted to test the possibiUty 

 of anthrax transmission through the bites of blood-sucking insects, 

 the carriage of anthrax bacilli on the proboscis of an insect after 

 feeding on an infected animal being considered possible. 



Guinea-pigs inoculated by the subcutaneous injection of anthrax 

 spores of a very virulent strain were used as sources of infection, 

 death occurring in adult animals 28 hours after inoculation, or sooner 

 in younger individuals. In the laboratory examples of Lyperosia 

 (Haeniatobia) irritans, L. (horn-fly), confined in a wooden box, the top 

 of which was composed of fine wire gauze, were allowed to feed 

 through it on a previously inoculated guinea-pig for one minute, 

 and then on a healthy one for from one to three minutes. In order 

 to determine at what stage in the development of the disease the 

 virulent organisms could be transmitted by flies, the time that elapsed 

 between the feeding on the infected host and its death was noted. 

 The results showed that the greatest number of transmissions took 

 place a short time before the death of the infected host, owing to the 

 anthrax bacilli becoming generalised in the circulation. Lyperosia 

 irritans would not however feed satisfactorily on an infected carcase. 

 Transmission seemed to be mechanical, the bacillus being carried on 

 the proboscis of the fly and producing in some cases the internal form 

 of anthrax, but more generally the external or carbuncular form. 



Experiments similarly conducted with a species of Tabanus, closely 

 allied to T. nigrovittatus, Macq., and with the mosquitos, Janthinosotna 

 (Psorophora) sayi, D. & K., and Aedes sylvestris, Theo., showed that 

 they can transmit anthrax in the same manner as flies. 



The results also indicated that the disease is not usually spread in 

 the excreta of these insects after feeding on the blood of an animal 

 suffering from anthrax. They also show the necessity of protecting 

 infected animals from blood-sucking insects, and of keeping valuable 

 animals in screened buildings during outbreaks of this disease. 



