87 



HoOLE (E. Tj. Cci/l't/i Ad nn ins1 nitioii Reports — }'eterinan/. 

 1911-12, 4 pp. 



In December 1911 a suspected case of siiria occurred at Hattoii : 

 a horse was destroyed and strict measures taken to cleanse the 

 stables and sheds and to abate the tly pest then prevailing'. 

 Altog-ether up to the end of April 1912, 19 cattle and 2 horses 

 were destroyed as being suspected of surra. The disease is 

 carried by a si)ecies of Sfoi/io.vjjs which swarms in the district to 

 such ail e>;tent that in daylig'ht a horse could not stand still for 

 a minute out of doors. Strict sanitary measures have con- 

 siderably lessened their numbers by destroying their breeding- 

 places. The annual loss from this cause in India, Africa and 

 South America is very serious. Mauritius became infected about 

 the time of the South African War to such an extent as seriously 

 to interfere with trans})ort aud almost to prevent the i)lantiii{; 

 an<l gathering of crops. 



SwELLEX(iRE]'.EL (IS'. H.). Mededecling- omtrent Onderzoekingen 

 over de Biologic van Ratten en Vlooien en over andere Onder- 

 werpen. die Betrekking hebben op de Epidemiologie der Pest op 

 Oost-Java. [Ilecord of observations on the Bionomics of 

 Fleas and Rats and other subjects, bearing* on the Epidemio- 

 logy of Plague in Eastern -lava.] — Mededeelinfjen van den 

 Bui-f/erJijken Geneeskundigen. Dienst in X edeflandsch-Indie , 

 ii, pt. 1, 191-5, 90 pp., 7 maps, lo charts, 1 plate. 



Ed'periments on the transviiasion of pJorjue hy hlood-sucldnrf 

 ■insects. — Laboratory experiments with lieas showed that when 

 the number allowed to bite an infected animal was from 100 to 

 150 the infective stage did not last more than 15 days, but if 700 

 or 800 laboratory-bred fleas were used the infective stage con- 

 tinued tor 21 to 28 days. The general result of the author's 

 experiments in this direction was to show that A', cheopis is 

 quite as well able to transmit plague in Java as in British India, 

 and that in Java the flea remains infective for a somewhat longer 

 time. The author thinks it worth recording- that in certain 

 exjieriments where plague-infected and healthy animals were put 

 tog-ether without fleas, no transmission of plague ever occurred 

 unless the infected animals were eaten. The mortality among-st 

 the Heas used was very considerable, largely owing to the fact that 

 they were infested by mites, which killed a great number by 

 attaching themselves not only to the body and legs but even to 

 the head and proboscis of the flea, thus preventing it from biting. 



The experiments indicate the existence of an appreciable degree 

 of immunity from plague in rats, which appears to vary locally. 



Mr. Often working at Malang* succeeded in transmitting plague 

 to rats by means of Pyfjiopsylla nhalae, but not to guinea-pigs. 

 P. ahalde it appears does not readily bite animals other than rats. 

 The insect was infective 10 days after sucking infected blood 

 and plague bacilli were found in the midgut 14 days afterwards. 



