23 



Moss (C, J. A.). Disease in Madagascar. — Jl. Trop. Med. xvi, 

 15tli Jan. 1910, pp. lT-23. 



Tlie autlior says that malaria is now a terrible scourge in 

 Antananarivo and Imerina, tliougli it was not so in the days of 

 the Malagasy goyernment. He attributes the change to two 

 causes. Before the French occuxjation the Malagasy used to 

 burn the long grass on the hillsides and along the streams ; but as 

 beacon fires were largely used by the natives in the early days 

 of the French occupation of the island, the French authorities 

 forbade the use of such fires and the firing of the grass, so that 

 Ihe shelter for the mosquitos Avas no longer destroyed and they 

 •consequently increased enormously in numbers. The second 

 cause is, in the author's opinion, due indirectly to the levy of 

 the poll-tax, as those natives who could not pay in money were 

 made to pay in labour and were drafted to districts around Imerina 

 for the construction of roads. These localities being often very 

 malarious, the mortality was high, and the sick were vsent back 

 to their villages to become centres of infection. Changes are 

 going on in the malarious character of certain villages for which 

 no reasonable explanation is forthcoming, in that very unhealthy 

 places have become almost healthy and vice versa. 



Antananarivo stands on a hill with a large rice plain to the 

 Avest of it, which exercises a most injurious influence on the health 

 of the community. ITndergrowth is cut down and the increase of 

 the Cape lilac has been connected, wrongly in the author's 

 opinion, with the increase of malaria. He suggests that the only 

 practical plan for ridding the neighbourhood of mosquitos would 

 be to close these rice fields for a time, the Government finding 

 food for the people in the meanwhile and conducting a thorough 

 and vigorous campaign against the mosquitos by every known 

 means, until the area is cleared of them 



Laurie (D. F.). The Poultry Tick. — Dept. of Agriculture, 

 S. Australia, BvU. Iso-. 74, 1912, 32 pp. 



The author points out that the majority of persons keeping 

 poultry in infested localities are unaware that the ticks are present 

 and that they are causing them much financial loss. Experience 

 shows that most of the sickness occurring among poultry in the 

 late spring, summer and autumn is due to ticks, and he advises 

 that wherever poultry are found to be ailing, ticks should be 

 sought for as the probable cause. 



In 1907 the poultry tick was brought under the provision of the 

 Stock Disease Act. 



History of the tick in Australia. — There is no record of the 

 date on which this pest was introduced into the State, and it is 

 probable that it existed for some years before it was discovered 

 to be a cause of loss among poultry. It has been stated that it 

 was first introduced from South Africa, but the author is of 

 opinion that it first came to Port Adelaide (it was first discovered 

 there) with fowls brought from India. Complaints of losses by 

 poultry breeders of Port Adelaide were made so far back as 

 28o3G A 2 



