178 



r7ibrofasrAatu.^, a blood infection of short duration took place. 

 The authors proved the same to be the case witli the Herpeto- 

 monas of the dog- flea, only that the infection persisted in the 

 mice for 36, 42 and 61 days after inoculation. The authors 

 results are of interest in relation to the question of the trans- 

 mission of kala azar. 



Taute (Dr. M.). TJntersuchungen iiber die Bedeutung des Gross- 

 wildes und der Haustiere fur die VerbreitungderSchlafkrankheit. 



[Investigations regarding the role of big game and of 

 domestic animals in the transmission of sleeping sickness.] — 

 Arb. Knife?-!,. Ges-undheifmmt, Berlin, xlv, no. 1, August 

 1913, pp. 102-112, 1 pi. 



In view of the divergent opinions of Kleine, Kinghorn and 

 Yorke, and Bruce regarding the role of big game as reservoirs of 

 sleeping sickness, the author decided to make independent investi- 

 gations in Portuguese Nyasaland, not far from Lake Amaramba 

 and 90 kilometres east of Fort Johnston. At Lubimbinu a small 

 fly-free area was discovered, surrounded by a broad forest belt con- 

 taining an abundance of tsetse-fly and big game; in addition to 

 Glossina morsitari.<i, Tabanidae are very numerous during the 

 rainy season. 



The population is more or less congregated in large villages 

 where G. morsitans is very common. Nevertheless, the author 

 was able to confirm the observations of British Medical Ofiicers 

 along the Anglo-Portuguese boundary in that while malarial para- 

 sites were frequently found in the blood of natives, human try- 

 panosomiasis is absent. Cattle and sheep, however, do not exist 

 in the district, a few isolated goats are found in localities on the 

 borders of the fly-free area, and dogs are rare and rapidly 

 succumb. 



The laboratory animals were procured from fly-free areas and 

 transported to Lubimbinu in fly-proof receptacles. Similar pre- 

 cautions were taken during the quarantine, and later in camp, the 

 animals in question being dogs, long-tailed monkeys, wild rats, 

 and, to a limited extent, goats. Experiments on the patho- 

 genicity of cattle were made on British territory near Fort 

 Johnston. 



In the afore-mentioned Glossina belt 37 specimens of big game 

 (buffalo, eland, sable antelope, waterbuck, Lichtenstein's harte- 

 beest, bushbuck, reedbuck, duiker, warthog and bushpig) were 

 killed between August and December 1912, and in 2-5 rases mon- 

 keys and dogs, and in three cases goats, were inoculated with the 

 blood. Trypanosomes, closely resembling T. rhoilesiense in 

 appearance and in their pathogenic effect on animals, were found 

 six times. Other trypanosomes found in the antelopes probably 

 belong to the T. virax and T. pecorum group. 



In 309 wild Glossina captured ata certain distance from thecamp 

 69 (187 per cent.) contained mammalian blood and 27 (73 per 

 cent.) showed mammalian trypanosomes. In this district, with an 

 abundance of game, the flies hardly feed on cold-blooded animals. 



