44 



and Calliphora oviposit in neglected wounds and in natural cavities 

 of the body. The trouble and annoyance caused by the harvest mite, 

 Leptus autumnalis, the larval stage of a Tromhidium, may have serious 

 consequences. The itching and smarting prevents sleep and may result 

 in skin troubles and in some cases a general eruption and high fever. 

 Pedicvloides ventricosus attacks labourers dealing with grain, the bite 

 causing severe irritation, local swellings and fever. The itch mite, 

 Sarcoptes scabiei, and its mode of life are described, and attention is 

 drawn to the fact that the genus Sarcoptes attacks many domestic 

 and other animals and is capable of transference to man. The follow- 

 ing ticks are described : Argas persicus, Argas refiexus, Ixodes ricinus, 

 Ornithodorus moubata and also the parasitic Chalcid, Ixodiphagus 

 caucurtei. 



Shipley (A. E.). Cockroaches. — Brit. Med. Jl., London, nos. 2815 & 

 2817, 12th & 26th December 1914, pp. 1007-1009 and 1097-1098, 

 7 figs. 

 The article deals with the following species of cockroaches : Periplaneta 

 crientalis, P. americana, and Phyllodromia germanica, the fiist-named 

 being the commonest. The sticky, malodorous fluid secreted by the 

 abdominal glands of these insects and their habits of fouling food 

 renders them very objectionable to man. Cargoes of cheese are re- 

 corded to have been destroyed and rendered unfit for food by cock- 

 roaches on ships. Morrell's investigations on cockroaches on board 

 ship are referred to at length, and his conclusions given, viz., that by 

 contamination with its faeces the common cockroach is Hable to cause 

 souring of milk, the infection of the tubercle bacillus, dissemination 

 of pathogenic staphylococci and the conveyance from place to place 

 of destructive moulds. 



Bacot (A.), Petrie (G. R) & Todd (Capt. R. E.). The fleas found 

 on Rats and other Rodents, living in Association with Man, and 

 trapped in the Towns, Villages and Nile boats of Upper Egyp . — 

 Jl. of Hygiene, Cambridge, xiv, no, 4, December 1914, pp. 498-508. 



The collections of fleas described in this paper were made in 1912 

 and 1913 in localities extending from Cairo southwards to Komombo, 

 26 miles north of Assiut. Xenopsylla cheopis naturally makes up the 

 greatest bulk of the collections, the percentage on land rodents 

 varying from 90 to 100. The few exceptions to this general rule are 

 afforded by such hosts as Gerbillus pyramidum, a specimen of which 

 yielded a high percentage of X, cleopatrae ; a species of hedgehog which 

 showed a distinctpreponderanceof (7<enocej3/2a?Hs/eZw ; a weasel carrying 

 Echidnophaga gallinacea; and Acomys cahirinus, from Cairo, which 

 had a marked infestation of X. chephrenis. On hosts trapped in the 

 Nile boats, the relative numbers of X. cheopis declined, their place 

 being taken by Leptopsylla musculi, which in one instance occurred 

 to the extent of 85 per cent. Mus. norvegicus is the dominant rodent 

 on the Nile boats. There is, however, no evidence that L. musculi 

 favours M. norvegicus rather than M. rattus, though the land conditions 

 in Upper Egypt seem to be unfavourable to L. musculi, for some un- 

 explained reason. Ceratophyllus is represented in these collections 

 by three specimens oi fasciatus, all taken from M. norvegicus trapped 



