227 



So far as is known, trench fever has been reported only from the 

 War zones and neighbouring regions, such as Flanders, France (from 

 the Vosges to the sea), the ItaUan front, at Salonika, and, to a small 

 extent, in Mesopotamia. It has not been reported from Egypt, 

 Syria or East Africa. It has prevailed in Poland, Galicia and the 

 Bukovina. 



It is probable that lice occur in every inhabited part of the world, 

 though the fact cannot be definitely asserted, in the present state of 

 our knowledge, but they are undoubtedly less plentiful in hot than 

 in cold climates. The distribution of louse-borne diseases, therefore, 

 by no means corresponds with the distribution of lice, the former 

 being peculiar to cold, rather than to hot climates, to mountainous, 

 rather than to low-lying countries, and prevailing in winter rather 

 than in summer. They appear to have originated in the Old World 

 and to have been carried by the Spaniards to Mexico and Peru, where 

 they have become endemic on the high ground. In Australasia, the 

 tropical belt seems to have imposed a barrier that they have been 

 unable to cross, with the curious exception of Celebes. In view of 

 these facts, the introduction of louse-borne disease into any country 

 should be carefully guarded against. 



Organised prophylactic measures are not a difficult matter in 

 civilian hfe, but such is not the case among armies, where the important 

 thing is to remove every possible source of re-infestation. Lice have 

 a proclivity for wandering, and are able to exist, without feeding, 

 for a week at ordinary room temperatures and longer under cooler 

 conditions, 10 days at 41° F. being the longest recorded period. 



The disinfestation of troops by means of bathing and the use of 

 ointment (of which the most satisfactory is composed of crude, 

 unwhizzed naphthaline from the coke oven 4 parts, and soft soap 

 1 part) and that of their clothing (including blankets and kits) by 

 means of heat or insecticides are measures that should be carried out 

 at the same time for every set of billets, huts, or dug-outs. 



Taylor (F. H.). Report of Entomological Department. — Australian 

 Inst. Trop. Med., Townsville, Queensland, Half-Yrhj. Rept. from 

 1st July to 31st December 1917, 15th May 1918, pp. 10-12. 

 [Received 4th September 1918.] 



The mosquitos collected and bred out during the malaria survey 

 in Victoria and S. Australia furnish additional records for previously 

 known species, especially Anopheles {Nyssorhynchus) annuUpes, Wlk. 



A preliminary hst of the mosquitos taken at Cairns includes : — • 

 Anopheles {Myzorhynchus) barbirostris var. bancrofti, Giles, A. {Nyssor- 

 hynchus) annuUpes, Wlk., Stegomyia fasciata, ¥., PseudosJcusea similis, 

 Theo. , Ochlerotatus {Scutomyia) notoscriptus, Sbise, Macleaya tremula, 

 Theo., Ochlerotatus {Culiceha) vigilax, Skuse, Culex fatigans, Wied., 

 C. sifiens, Wied., Mansonia {Taeniorhynchus) uniformis, Theo., Finlaya 

 poicilia, Theo., Skuseafunerea, Theo., S. uniformis, Theo., Uranotaenia 

 (5 spp.), Lophocer atomy ia sp. and Hodgesia (2 spp.), the last two 

 genera having only recently been discovered on the mainland of 

 Australia, though known from Africa, Malaya and Borneo, one species 

 of Hodgesia having also been described from Papua. 



A Hst of Australian Tabanids is given, for one of which, Pelecorhynchus 

 mirabilis. Tayl., a new genus may be required. Other species are 



(C624) a2 



