169 



Ferguson (E. W). Malaria in Palestine : Experiences with a Field 



Laboratory. — Australasian Med. Congress, Trans. Eleventh Session 



held in Brisbane, Queensland, 21st-28th August 1920, pp. 310-317. 



Under war conditions, in 1918, benign tertian was the prevailing 



type of malaria in the coastal sector in summer, but the rise consequent 



on the advance was entirely due to malignant tertian, the reason being 



that the troops advanced from an area where A. macidipennis and 



A. pharoensis predominated into one infested by A. palestinensis. 



Lawrence (H.). The Pathogenicity of the Demodex folliculoruni.— 

 Australasian Med. Congress, Trans. Eleventh Session held in 

 Brisbane, Queensland, 21st-28th August 1920, pp. 543-544. 

 This subject has been dealt with in a notice of a later paper [R.A.E., 



B, ix, 186]. 



Garment (A. G.). Report on Experiment of Fly Breeding from Stable 

 Manure with a Short Account of the Finding of a Parasite. — Agric. 

 Circ. Fiji Dcpt. Agric., Suva, iii, no. 1, January-March 1922, 

 pp. 1-5. 



Some years ago the extraordinary disappearance of very large numbers 

 of house-flies [Musca domestica] from certain districts in Fiji was 

 noticed. The cause of this was not discovered, but it may have been 

 due to the presence of a parasite that has recently been observed. 

 Examination of the top laver from a manure dump kept for use in a 

 vegetable garden revealed the presence of a small Hymenopteron moving 

 about inside the pupal cases of M. domestica. The parasite is present 

 in the manure heap with the larval stage of M. domestica, but does not 

 attack this stage, and remains fairly inactive until the manure begins 

 to dry. It then moves about actively in search of fly pupae, which it 

 pierces with its ovipositor, depositing its egg on the inside of the pupal 

 case. The small larvae feed on the soft tissues of the developing fly 

 within the pupal case imtil they have transformed into adults, which eat 

 their way out of the side of the pupal case. Both sexes of the parasite 

 were bred from fly pupae, and a larva was obtained parthenogenetically 

 from a female enclosed with a pupa of M. domestica. The ease with 

 which this parasite was reared in the laboratory indicates the possibility 

 of its rapid spread and affords some hope of the total destruction of 

 flies breeding from stable manure. 



Experiments to test the flight of M. domestica by means of staining 

 numbers of the adults showed that the flies travelled against the wind, 

 evidently following a scent, as no flies were reported to leeward. 



Dawe (M. T.). Efwatakala Grass {Melinis minuti flora) as a Means 



for the Control of the Tsetse-fly. — Tropical Life, London, xviii, 



no. 5, May 1922. pp. 69-71, 1 fig. 



The author suggests that the grass, Melinis minutiflora (known as 



Efwatakala in the Congo, where it grows abundantly) might be 



employed with advantage in certain parts of Africa, and perhaps 



in other countries also, as a means of controlling tsetse-fly [Glossina], 



ticks and possibly mosquitos. The plant has a wide distribution in 



Africa, extending from the south of the Sahara to Natal, and occurring 



also in Madagascar. Other species in Angola are M. gracilis, M. effusa, 



and an unidentified species. The grass has a strong odour which 



may serve as a repellent, while the leaves are covered with glandular 



hairs which contaui a viscid oil, which is believed to be objectionable 



