171 



Brethes (J.). Los Tabanidos del Plata. [The Tabanidae of the River 

 Plate Region. ^ — Buenos Aires, 1921, 79 pp., 1 fig. [Received 

 20th June 1922.] 



The author has collected in this paper the scattered descriptions 

 of Tabanids hitherto recorded from the River Plate region. South 

 America, which has only been superficially explored, contains roughly 

 one third of the (approximately) l.,600 species and 40 genera of this 

 family. A table is given showing the world distribution of the various 

 genera. This is followed by notes on the distribution in Argentina 

 of some of the 108 species found there and by keys to the 18 Argentine 

 genera, and to the species of several of them. 



The new species described are : — Pangonia {Pangonius) dichroa, 

 Erephopsis picea, E. opaca, E. suhmetallica, Esenheckia tucumana, 

 Silvestriellus (gen. n.) patagonicus, Chrysops bonariensis, C. lynchi, 

 C. paragtiayensis, Haematopota {Chrysozona) argentina, Pseudoselasoma 

 (gen. n.) opactim, P. nitidum, Dichelacera plagiata, Tabanns distinctus , 

 T. snbantarcticus, T. albibasis, T. bnichi, T. palpalis, T. ameghinoi, 

 T. acer, T. melanogaster , T. confirmatus, T. princeps, T. arvensis, 

 T. bellicosus, T. ornatissimtts , T. melanopterus , T. sylvestris, T. corpu- 

 lenttis, T. platensis, T. signativentris, T. seclusus, T. habilis, T. erynnis 

 and T. antilope. 



As regards disease transmission, it is stated that Dr. F. Rosenbusch 

 strongly suspects that mal de caderas may be carried by a Tabanid. 



Franchini (G.). Sur un Amibe des Figuiers de plein Air de la Region 

 parisienne et sa Culture. — Bidl. Soc. Path. Exot., Paris, xv, 

 no. 5, 10th May 1922, pp. 287-292, 3 figs. 



The latex of Ficus carica growing at Paris harbours an Amoeba, 

 which has a flagellate stage and which appears to resist very low 

 temperatures. It can be cultivated on a Noller plate, and there 

 consumes the red corpuscles, thus behaving like the pathogenic 

 Amoeba of the human intestine. 



Lagrange (E.). Contribution a I'Etude des Piroplasmes des Bovides. 



—Bidl. Soc. Path. Exot., Paris, xv, no. 5, 10th May 1922, 

 pp. 295-299. 



Experiments were made as to whether the various parasites found 

 in bovine piroplasmosis in Annam can be transmitted from one species 

 of animal to another, whether deer can be a reservoir of the virus, 

 and whether ticks can convey the parasite from one species to another. 



The author succeeded in inoculating a calf with Gondcria {Theileria) 

 miitans from a buffalo. Blood from a captive specimen of Cervus 

 arisiotelis and from a dead wild example failed to reveal Theileria. 

 This deer blood proved fatal to a calf and a goat injected with it, 

 probably because the plasma of deer is toxic to bovines. 



Piroplasma bigemimtm and Anaplasma marginale, both parasites 

 in cattle, do not seem capable of transmission to the buffalo. 



As regards Piroplasma bubali, negative results attended the 

 inoculation of a calf with buffalo blood. 



The oxen in Annam are abundantly and exclusively infested by a tick, 

 Boophilus decoloratus. Ticks do not appear to occur on the buffalo, 

 so that the transmission of Theileria by ticks is doubtful, at least in 

 Annam, where this organism is as common in buffalo as in oxen. 

 Another tick, Haemaphysalis sp., is very abundant on wild deer. 



