75 



the cycle does not inhibit, nor does it necessarily retard, the develop- 

 mental cycle of the trypanosome in the flea ; (3) starvation of the 

 flea following immediately on an infective feed favours the establish- 

 ment of the haptomonad phase in the rectum, while starvation begun 

 after the incubation period in the flea is over, favours migration to 

 the post-pyloric end of the intestine and the establishment of the 

 haptomonad phase there. Experiments failed to prove whether the 

 first phase of the development of the trypanosomes, i.e., the intra- 

 cellular multiplication in the stomach of the flea, continues beyond the 

 second feed of the flea, counting as the first feed that by which it 

 became infected. A bibliography is appended and the text is freely 

 illustrated with excellent figures. 



Finding Fleas on Plague Rats. — Jl Amer. Med. Assoc, Chicago, Ixiv, 

 no. 2, 9th January 1915, p. 126. 

 Combing rats for fleas, particularly plague-infected rat-fleas, presents 

 certain disadvantages which have been obviated in the following 

 method reported by C. F. Mason of the Panama Canal Department 

 of Health. From several tests, it was found that fleas began to leave 

 a rat as early as 15 seconds after death and all had left the body in 

 a little more than 2 hrs. 15 mins. The rat was therefore killed by 

 cephalotripsy and its body immediately placed on a glass rod grating 

 over water contained in a very large glass jar or the inverted cover 

 of a garbage can. On leaving the body, the fleas drop into the water, 

 and may be conveniently collected by means of a medicine dropper. 

 In this way, higher counts have been obtained than by chloroforming 

 and combing or by any other method. 



• Duke (H. Lyndhurst). The Wild Game and Human Trypanosomiasis ; 

 ^ with some Remarks on the Nomenclature of certain Pan-African 



Trypanosomes. — Jl. Trop. Med. & Hyg., xviii, no. 2, 15th January 

 1915, pp. 13-16. 



It is stated that striking confirmation has been obtained of the 

 author's conviction that the sitatunga antelopes on the uninhabited 

 islands of the Victoria Nyanza are acting as a reservoir of T. gamkiense 

 and are responsible for the continued infectivity of the lake shore. 

 Two of the fly-boys who have, during the past three years, worked 

 with Dr. Carpenter on the islands have developed sleeping sickness 

 of the Uganda type, and trypanosomes have been demonstrated in 

 their glands. They have been constantly exposed to the bites of 

 G. palpalis during their work on the islands. For 18 months and 

 33 months respectively they have resided on the lake shore, chiefly 

 on the islands, and have not been exposed to bites of any other 

 Glossina. They constitute therefore what is practically the equivalent 

 of the crucial test, human inoculation, showing conclusively that 

 T. gambiense still exists in these island flies five years after the removal 

 of the inhabitants. It is considered that T. nanum and T. congolense 

 have more claim to be regarded as separate species than T. ugandae, 

 T. brucei, T. pecaudi, etc. Experiments show that in the wild fly of 

 the Northern Province of Uganda, in G. morsitans country, there 

 exist two trypanosomes with the specific characters of T. nanum 



