45 



on Nile boats during the first half of the year. Echidnophaga gal- 

 linacea is rare, and Pulex irritans is scarce considering the conditions 

 in which a large section of the human population live. A record of 

 the sexes in fleas captured on rats and other rodents, as well as on 

 man, was made. In the case of X. cheopis, the females exceeded the 

 males by 7 per cent., the excess being 20-2 per cent, and 72-2 per cent. 

 for Pulex irritans and X. chephrenis respectively. As over 8,000 

 specimens collected in different seasons and separate localities were 

 examined, these figures seem to indicate that this disproportion ia 

 general and implies some variation in the habits of the sexes. 



Smith (A. J.) & Rivas (D.). Notes Upon Human Filariasis {Filaria 

 loa, Guyot, and Filaria bancrofli, Cobbold). — Anier. Jl. Trop. Dis. 

 & Prevent Med., New Orleans, ii, no. 6, December 1914, 

 pp. 361-377. 



This paper concludes with a few observations regarding the bed-bug, 

 Cimex lectularius, as a possible intermediate host of filaria. In July 

 1911, a number of bed-bugs were fed on two individuals infested with 

 Filaria bancrofti. Examination of the stomach of one of the bugs 

 immediately after feeding revealed a great number of filarial embryos. 

 After the eighth day living microfilariae continued, but no growth or 

 change of morphology was appreciable. The infested individuals 

 were then killed and sectioned, but no development of the micro- 

 filariae was recognised. It is questionable whether larval develop- 

 ment is possible in the bed-bug. 



Balfour (A.). Birds and Malaria. — Lancet, London, clxxxvii, 

 no. 4762, 5th December 1914, pp. 1326-1327. 



It is pointed out that while Dr. Dixon's experiments [see this Review, 

 Ser B, iii, p. 25] are suggestive, the employment of aquatic birds 

 for the destruction of mosquitos is not new. According to Friedrichs, 

 ducks, like fish, keep pools and ponds free from mosquito larvae (see 

 Trop. Dis. Bull., ii, no. 12, p. 654) ; Sambon mentioned the larvivorous 

 properties of water fowl {Jl. Trop. Med., 15th September 1902, p. 283) 

 and has now furnished further references, including the use of birds 

 for dealing with the imagines, one dating back to 1890 and the other 

 somewhere between 1790 and 1812, when the Commune of Marsciano, 

 Umbria, asked for a papal decree prohibiting the kilUng of nesting 

 swallows for food because their destruction brought about insalubrity 

 in the region, one reason being that the swallows feed on the small 

 flying insects so troublesome and hurtful to man and beast. 



Roberts (N.). Cyanide Fumigation of Ships : Method used in New 

 Orleans. — Public Health Reports, Washington, D.C., xxix, no. 50, 

 11th December 1914, pp. 3321-3325. 



In the fumigation of ships at New Orleans against rats, two methods 

 are used, by either of which 1 ounce of KCN is used for each 100 cubic 

 feet with If ounces (about 1 fluid ounce) of sulphuric acid, and 3 fluid 

 ounces of water. The " crock " or " soHd cyanide " method is similar 

 to that used by citrus growers, the soKd cyanide being dropped into 



