56 



Brumpt (E.)- Importance du cannibalisme et de la coprophagie chezr 

 les R6duvid6s h^matophages {Rhodnius, Triatoma) pour la conser- 

 vation des Trypanosomes pathog§nes en dehors de I'hSte vert6br§. 



[On the importance of cannibalism and coprophagy in blood- 

 sucking Reduviids {Rhodnius, Triatoma) for the preservation of 

 pathogenic Trypanosomes outside the vertebrate host.] — Bull. Soc. 

 Path. ExoL, Paris, vii, no. 10, December 1914, pp. 702-705. 



The search for reservoirs of virus in the case of parasitic diseases of 

 man is very important and the study of the habits of the carriers of 

 infection is exceedingly necessary ; for this reason the author thinks 

 it desirable to point out that cannibahsm and coprophagy exist among 

 certain blood-sucking Reduviids. Cannibalism was first recorded 

 in Triatoma megista by A. Machado, and the author has himself observed 

 it in T. infestans, T. megista, T. chagasi, and in Rhodnius j^^olixus. 

 Torres has frequently observed it in T. sordida. It is especially 

 frequent amongst young larvae a few weeks old which have fed 

 several times in the ordinary way upon vertebrates, and it would 

 appear that this habit of sucking blood which has already been taken 

 from an animal by members of their own kind diminishes with age. 

 Generally a cannibal Triatoma sucks those of its own species which 

 are already fully gorged with blood and frequently the individual so 

 sucked is not troubled by the operation, but continues its meal on 

 the vertebrate concerned. The author has never observed the death 

 of a specimen bitten by a cannibal. He regards this cannibahsm as 

 an ancestral survival of the normal entomophagous habits of 

 Reduviids, which still persist even amongst some of those 

 which are blood-suckers, such as T. sanguisuga, which, according to 

 Mitchell and Dallas, suck Lepidopterous larvae, while Lafont 

 describes Triatoma rubrofasciata as sucking bed-bugs in Mauritius. 

 Coprophagy, observed by the author in the genus Rhodnius, has been 

 hitherto unknown amongst blood-sucking insects, and in the case of 

 R. prolixus this habit is exceedingly pronounced. It is suggested that 

 it is quite possible in this way for them to become infected by absorbing 

 the dejecta of insects carrying the flagellates, and that these habits 

 have converted non-pathogenic flagellates of non-blood- sucking 

 insects into pathogenic flagellates of insects which live by sucking 

 blood. 



Some details are given of prehminary experiments which tend to 

 show that it is possible to carry on the development of Trypanosoma- 

 cruzi from one bug to another. 



Brumpt (E.). Le Xenodiagnostic. Application au diagnostic de 

 quelques infections parasitaires et en particulier a la Trypano- 

 somose de Chagas. [Xenodiagnosis. Application to diagnosis 

 of certain parasitic infections and especially of the Trypano- 

 somiasis of Chagas.] — Bull. Soc. Path. Exot., Paris, vii, no. 10, 

 December 1914, pp. 706-710. 



It is suggested that freshly bred Triatoma should be allowed to 

 bite suspected cases of Chagas' disease and that they should bfr 

 examined subsequently for the trypanosome and used as cultivating 



