130 



fly will feed readily on man, especially after the atmosphere has 

 been cooled by a shower, but it rarely attacks him in the presence 

 of domesticated animals, nor yet to the same extent as in tem- 

 perate climates. Sick animals are more susceptible to the attacks 

 of Stomo.njs than are healthy ones. 



A peculiar feeding' relation exists between Stomo.vys and certain 

 non-bitino- flies. The author observed that flies on a bullock were 

 grouped in twos, threes, fours or fives; on closer inspection the 

 group was found almost invariably to consist of more than one 

 species, a Stomoxys usually being the central figure. While the 

 latter was feeding, the other flies, frequently belonging to species 

 without a piercing mouth {e.g., house-flies), would give evidence 

 of great nnpatience and make efforts to dislodge the Stomoa-ys. 

 Wlien the latter was satisfied, the others collected round the 

 puncture and lapped the blood as it oozed from the wound. 

 Cattle are most subjected to bites of Stomoxys between 5 and 

 8 a.m., the flies then remaining sluggish until the heat of the 

 day has subsided, and after a second engorgement resting until 

 the following morning. The life of Stomoxys was determined to 

 be at least 72 days for the female and 94 days for the male. 



An account is also given of the methods employed in keeping 

 and feeding flies for laboratory purposes, and tables illustrate 

 the life-history of S. calcitrans at various periods and under 

 A'arious conditions. 



Basile (Dr. C). La trasmissione sperimentale delle Leishmaniosi 

 del Mediterraneo ai topi per mezzo delle pulci. [The experi- 

 mental transmission of Mediterranean Leishmaniasis to mice 

 by means of fleas.] — Atti R. Accad. del Lincer, Roma, xxii, 

 no. T, 6th April 1913, pp. 468-470. 



In 1910 the author was able to incriminate the flea as the 

 transmitting host of the Mediterranean human and canine leish- 

 maniasis, and in the following year to trace out the development 

 of Leishmania in Ctenocephalus serraticeps canis. At Bordonaro 

 (Messina), an endemic centre of leishmaniasis, only four out of 

 every thousand C. serraticeps and Pitlex irritans collected in the 

 feather-beds and mattresses of infected children and on dogs living 

 with the latter, were found to have protozoa of the Leishmania 

 type in the intestine. About 200 fleas were collected from a dog 

 badly infected with leishmaniasis, kept at a temperature of 22° C, 

 and fed the day after on new-born pups. Only three of the fleas 

 showed any protozoa of the Leishmania type in their faeces, two 

 of them being very virulently infected, and from these an emul- 

 sion in sterile physiological solution at 22° C. was made. Two 

 white mice {Mns musculns) were subsequently inoculated with 

 this emulsion and an examination of the mediilla of their tibiae 

 failed to reveal any parasites. On the 56th day after inoculation 

 •one of the mice was killed, and smears of the liver and spleen 

 immediately revealed the presence of L^eishviania of a type 

 identical with that found in the fleas and in the dog upon which 

 thev were feeding. 



