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Ealand (C. a.). Insects and Man. — London : Grant Richards, Ltd., 

 1915, 343 pp., 16 pis., 100 figs., 8vo. Price 12s. 



This book does not claim to be more than a compilation, but it is 

 well arranged and though deaUng with highly technical matters, is 

 presented in an attractive form. The relations of insects with plants 

 and the parasites of man and domestic animals are dealt with, and 

 a lengthy section deals with insect control. 



Under insects as carriers of the organisms of human diseases, the 

 mosquito and the tsetse-fly naturally occupy an important place, as 

 also do. ticks, fleas and other blood-suckers. A clear statement of the 

 parts played by them in conveying malaria, sleeping sickness, relapsing 

 fever, verruga, plague, etc., is given. The loss to owners of live-stock 

 from tick fever, piroplasmosis, mal de caderas, warbles and other 

 insect-borne diseases, is emphasised, and it is perhaps not realised 

 that the ox warble fly, Hypoderma bovis, causes losses which have 

 been estimated at from two to seven millions sterling per annum in 

 England alone. Great pains have been taken to give historical details, 

 especially in the chapters on insect-borne diseases of man and animals. 

 The history of plague and its relation to rats and fleas though brief, 

 is a good example of this. The historical account of plague in England 

 might have been a little enlarged with advantage, if only to emphasise 

 the fact that the " great plague " of 1665 was only the last great 

 outburst of a disease which had been endemic at least since 1349, 

 and there is no reference to Boccacio's vivid account of the plague at 

 Florence. The illustrations are well chosen, especially those from 

 photographs. The one defect in an otherwise most excellent and useful 

 book is the index. Ten pages of bibliography with references to over 

 200 works are appended. 



SuHR (A. C. H). A note on Fevers Resembling Sand-Fly Fever at 

 Singapore. — Jl.R. Army Med. Corps, London, xxiv, no. 1, January 

 1915, pp. 49-51. 



Febrile cases bearing a marked resemblance to Phlebotomus fever 

 as seen in Malta, are common in Singapore and a few weeks' experience 

 sufficed to show that these were not cases of malaria as generally 

 supposed. Absence of parasites in the blood is not infrequently 

 observed in febrile attacks occurring in old cases of malaria and these 

 must not be confused with the type of fever imder consideration. 

 The patients exammed were all men who had arrived direct from 

 England in 1912, the majority of them having never been exposed to 

 malarial infection, and the observations only apply to a certain number 

 stationed on an island, Pulan Brani, which is almost free from malaria. 

 Theit blood contained no parasite and their temperature charts in no 

 way resembled those of ague, the general symptoms being indistin- 

 guishable from those of sand-fly fever as seen in Malta. The author 

 saw some cases which he had no hesitation in diagnosing as dengue, 

 though the local medical authorities differ greatly as to the presence 

 and frequency of this disease in Singapore. Numbers of flies resembhng 

 sand-flies were caught, but not one proved to be a Phlebotomus. 

 Attempts were made to breed them from earth and debris likely to 

 harbour them, but without success. The author was constantly 



