12 



Since tlieii Mr. Hesse lias goue fuitlier by poisoniiio' iLUiiiure 

 with the artificial cultivation and attempting' to develop the 

 fly larvae therein. The result was encouraging. The larvae 

 assumed the pupal form but did not hatch out. A further 

 experiment by Mr. Hesse tends to show that the zygospores if 

 swallowed by the fly wJien disseminated in syrup, are thrown 

 off as conidia by the Hy, thus completing the life-cycle of the 

 fungus. The interest of these observations lies in the fact that 

 hitherto the spores have been supposed to work their way into 

 the fly through the surface of its abdomen, whereas it would now 

 appear from Mr. Hesse's experiments that they are swallowed 

 and probably germiiiate in the crop. 



Maetix (C. J.). Horace Dobell Lectures on Insect Porters of 

 Bacterial Infections, delivered before the R. Coll. of Physicians. 

 —Bnt. Med. ./I. 4th Jan. liJi:;. pp. 1-8; and 11th Jan. 

 1913. pp. 59-U8. 



In the first of these lectures the author deals with the house-fly, 

 and discusses the evidence which exists as to the carriage by this 

 insect of various epidemic disorders, especially typhoid and 

 infantile diarrhoea. In the second lecture the rat ffea, as the 

 carrier of plague, and the human flea aie discussed. The reason 

 why the human flea is ineffective in the transmission of plagaie, 

 is because in human cases the average degree of septicaemia 

 before death is so much less than in rats that the chance of a flea 

 imbibing even a single bacillus is small. Possibly in the middle 

 ages when the intensity of the septicaemia in man may have been 

 greater the human flea may have played its part in i-arrying 

 infection. 



Typhus, relapsing fever and poliomyelitis may hv transmitted 

 by insects. Typhus fever has been shown to be capable of trans- 

 inission by the agencv of bodv lice by Nicolle, Comi)te and 

 Conseil (1909) and by Ricketts and Wildei' (1911). The last 

 insect dealt with in the lectures is the bed-bug, of which the 

 author says, there is no real evidence to incriminate this insect 

 in the case of either tyi)hus or relapsing fever. Plague has been 

 transmitted experimentally by bugs but there is no epidemio- 

 logical reason tor supposing that this takes i)lacc to any extent 

 in nature. 



Tli(> rei)ort of these lectures is veiy fully illust i alcd witli draw- 

 ings of the mouth and other i)aits of tlic inserts named and a 

 very full bibliography is given. 



Mrr/M.\TN (M. B.). Collected Notes on the Insect Transmission of 

 Surra in Carabaos. /'/lili/t/jiiw Af/nc. I'cr. (\rlj/.). V. 

 l^o. 12. Dec. 1912. pp. iiTO-USl. 



E.vpcri iiiciitdi T i(in.'<inissi(>ii of Siirni hij Lice. 



The Carabao is a variety of tlie Indian buffalo (Buhaliis. 

 hiihdlis) ;ind is connnonlv regaided as being indigenous to 



