15 



(4.) 90 carabaos (12 infected), 2 mares with colts, free. Sire 

 of these colts infected and had been removed to a surra-free 

 liacienda :t mile away. Did the horse contract surra from the 

 carahao? 



(5.) 2;) cattle, 53 carabao, all healthy; lice almost absent; good 

 mud wallows. No Tabanidae; Lyi)ero!<ia present, with about 

 1 per cent, of Stoinoxys. 



(6.) 103 carabaos — 6 surra cases and 12 suspects; no trypano- 

 somes. More lice than at farm No. 5. Lyperosia predominated; 

 few Stoinoxys. 



(7.) Herd of carabaos, 8 per cent, infected with surra, 5 

 positive on day of inspection. Flies collected, Lyperosia 341; 

 Stoiiio.xys 7; non-biting Muscids 7. Lypero.na vastly pre- 

 dominant. 



The distribution of Lyperosia and Sfovto.vys on cattle, carabaos 

 and horses during two weeks of field observation was cattle 

 (70 per cent, and 10 per cent.), carabaos (95 per cent, and 3 

 per cent.), horses (25 per cent, and 70 per cent.). Tabanids 

 were found on cattle only, 3 per cent. 



The flies, several hundred Lyperosia together, travel with their 

 host and serve as carriers. They have been observed to hold on 

 to one animal for several kilometres; when the animal rests they 

 are switched oft' and seek new hosts. 



An experiment was made by shutting up a healthy carabao 

 with two infected ones in a fly-proof cage, the animals not being 

 in contact. About 5,000 Lyperosia flies were collected from 

 healthy working carabaos and let loose in the shed containing 

 tiie three animals. Daily observation of all three gave negative 

 results. Further like experiments are in progress. 



Castellani (A.) & Hirst (S.). Note on Copra Itch with a Report 

 on the Mite causing it. — //. Trop. Med. c^ Uyy. IGth Dec, 

 1912. 



Dr. Castellani has observed for several years that persons 

 employed in copra mills in Ceylon are subject to a peculiar 

 eruption. The skin of the hands, arms and legs, and sometimes 

 the whole bodj', except the face, is covered with fairly numerous, 

 extremely pruriginous papules ; papulo-pustules and pustules are 

 also generally present. The eruption begins as a rule on the 

 hands and thence spreads to the arms, legs and trunk; never to 

 the face. The author found acari-like parasites on a patient's 

 arm and was told by him that these were common in the copra 

 dust. A sample of dust brought by the patient for examination 

 was found to be swarming with similar acari. These have now 

 been identified by TEirst as a new variety of Tyroglyplms Jongior. 

 The mite does not bury itself in the skin, but appears to induce 

 dermatitis in the same manner as Pediculoides ventricosus 

 (Newport), which lives in diseased cereals, but further investiga- 

 tion is necessary. 



The author has produced the disease experimentally by rubbing 

 copra dust containing the mite on to the skin of healthy persons. 



