74 



in others, and they bite in the daytime durinp- the siesta ; but in 

 spite of the abundance of Fldehotomus in the district the sanitary 

 service has not reported any case of pappataci fever. 



It is of interest to note that whilst P. pajmtasil is the prevailing 

 species at Timbiictu, P. duhoscqi is the species which predominates 

 at Honibori within the bend of the Niger. The Dahomey species, 

 PJilehotomus sp. n., was only observed on one occasion, and no 

 other species has been found in Dahomey. 



Phlehotinnns niinvtus var. ((frica/nis has been observed at 

 Bingerville under interesting conditions. A lizard (Agama 

 colonorum) was found in the latrines asleep with its body covered 

 by a cloud of female Phlehotoinns gorged with blood. Large num- 

 bers of the ilies were also gathered around the lizard and on the 

 wall close by. The animal did not appear to be annoyed by the 

 bites, nor did it seek to free itself from the flies. The chief in- 

 terest of this fact is that it explains liow Pldehotomvs can feed 

 itself under natural conditions. Generally speaking, these insects 

 are not widely spread in Western Africa ; at all events, their 

 presence is hardly noticed, probably because they feed upon 

 animals other than man. 



XicoLLE (C), Blaizot (L.) & CoxsEiL (E.). Du role negatif des 

 poux dans la transmission experimentale de la fievre des tiques. 

 [The negative role of lice in the experimental transmission 

 of Tick Fever.]— i^wZL Soc. Path. E.vot., vi, Feb. 1913, 

 jjp. 106-T. 



The authors refer to their papers in the Comptes-Eendus de 

 I'Academie des Sciences of the 10th June and 26tli August, 1912, 

 on the part played by lice in the transmission of the type of re- 

 current fever found in T^orth Africa, and they were anxious to 

 discover whether lice played an analogous part in the transmission 

 of other forms of human spirillosis. As only the blood of man or 

 of monkeys could be used for feeding the lice, it was necessary first 

 to infect a monkey, and this was difficult, because the virus used 

 had lost much of its force by having- passed through several series 

 of mice ; however, they at last succeeded in infecting a monkey and 

 feeding upon him a large number of human body lice. Under 

 the microscope these showed abundance of spirilla which rapidly 

 degenerated and in about two hours became invisible. Of the sur- 

 viving' lice 101 were fed for 15 consecutive days morning and 

 evening, on the body of a man who volunteered for the experiment, 

 and in the intervals were kept in a moist chamber at 27° C, which 

 had been found to be suitable from previous experiments. On 

 the eighth day four lice were examined under the microscope and 

 showed no spirilla. A total of 59 lice, 22 males and 37 females, 

 were examined up to the 15tli day with absolutely negative results, 

 and the authors regard the experiments as tending to show that 

 lice play no part in the transmission of Tick Fever. They never- 

 theless are careful to observe that the virus used, although fatal 

 to the monkey, had probably been greatly enfeebled by the trans- 

 mission through mice. 



