49 



Public Health Report.— Zanzibar Protectorate Med. & Sanit. Rept.for 

 1913, pp. 19-72. [Received 1st January 1915.] 



Rat plague appeared in the City of Zanzibar in June 1913, after 

 having been in abeyance since March 1911. The infection was pro- 

 bably brought by an infected rat landed from a dhow from Mombasa. 

 The number of rats destroyed in 6 years from 1909 to 1913 was about 

 280,000 and as the foetus count amounts to about 25,000 a year, the 

 town had during this period been rid of between 400,000 and 500,000 

 rats. It is not thought worth while to continue the campaign, and 

 it is therefore proposed to put into force in 1914 and to continue for 

 5 years the principle introduced by Rodier into AustraUa for the 

 purpose of destroying rabbits, which is based on increasing the 

 proportion of males. 



In the section dealing with mosquito-borne diseases, a table showing 

 the breeding places of the various mosquitos is given. Stegomyia 

 Jasciaia was predominant, being roughly three times as abundant as 

 all other Culicinae and six times as abundant all Anophelinae. 

 The table clearly shows that S. fasciata breeds in practically any 

 water-containing receptacles, but not in swamps ; that Culex prefers 

 drains and cess-pools, but can be found in most receptacles; whilst 

 Anophelines generally keep to the swamps and are only occasionally 

 found in tanks, cisterns and water-barrels. Nearly half the premises 

 where mosquito larvae were found, were in the Indian quarters. 

 When larvae are found on any premises, a sample of the water with the 

 larvae is collected in a test-tube, labelled and brought back to the 

 Health Office. The breeding place is shown to the householder who 

 signs a book to that effect. The larvae are then hatched out from 

 the sample for scientific purposes, but may also be useful in any sub- 

 sequent legal proceedings, because the inspector can go into court 

 and swear that he found this particular specimen on the premises of 

 the accused. The treatment of swamps with kerosene, under present 

 ■conditions, involves useless expenditure, as in no case are the swamps 

 properly graded, and therefore every shower washes out the contents 

 of the puddles and renders them habitable by another J>rQ,gi4;; of 

 mosquitos. 



Aders (W. M.). Entomology in relation to Public Hea\th and Medi- 



cine. — Zanzibar Protectorate Med. & Sanit. RejptSsJ^fl^l^, ..^ 



BD. 76-82. FReceived 1st Januarv 1915.1 ^^-^nal Mu§^"' 



pp. 76-82. [Received 1st January 1915.] 



The common Anopheline of Zanzibar town is Anopheles costalis, Lw. ; 

 together with Culex faligans and Stegomyia fasciata, it is prevalent 

 throughout the island of Zanzibar and the adjacent small islands. 

 Amongst the mosquitos not previously recorded from the Protectorate, 

 are Anopheles funestus, Giles ; Culex fatigans, Wied. ; C. invidiosus, 

 Theo. ; C. guiarti, Blanch. ; Mucidus mucidus, Karsch ; Toxorhynchites 

 brevipalpis, Theo. ; Ochlerotatus irritans, Theo. ; Mimomyia mimomyia- 

 Jormis, Newst., and Eretmopodites chrysogaster, Grah. During 1912, 

 a consignment of fish, Haplochilus playfairii, arrived from the 

 Seychelles. They proved to be voracious feeders on mosquito larvae 

 and this was also the case with young mullet, Mugil sp., and sea 

 perch, Ambassis cotnmersonji, kept in aquaria. The two latter 



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