34 



Sleeping Sickness in HysLsalRnd.— Sleeping Sickness Diary, Zomba, 

 pt. xxi, 3 1st August 1913 (date of Report), 11 pp. 



' The districts of Marimba, Dedza, South Nyasa and Upper Shire, 

 are being reinvestigated (three months' time being allottecl to each) 

 with the idea of demonstrating that sleeping sickness occurs wherever 

 Glmsinn morsitaus is found, and to collect facts in proof, but more 

 especial! V to spread amongst the natives a lively belief in the danger 

 arising from tsetse. It is reported by Dr. Conran that the natives are 

 graduallv altering their attitude towards the fly, missionaries having 

 informed him that when travelling in the sleeping sickness area they 

 have overheard natives discussing intelligently the best way of avoiding 

 bites, and that the use of fly-whisks of various kinds is becoming 

 more prevalent. 



The preventive measures suggested are briefly summarised as follows : 

 (1) Impressing upon the natives the necessity of avoiding being bitten 

 by flies ; (2) clearing for a distance of 300 yards or more round villages 

 situated in close proximity to fly, and extending these clearings in 

 many instances so as to embrace their cultivated lands also ; (3) 

 making clearings on each side of roads and main paths leading from 

 one village to another ; (4) instructing the natives to use this felled 

 timber for firewood, and to avoid visiting the adjacent fly-infested 

 woods for this purpose ; (5) instituting public latrines in all the villages 

 to prevent natives from visiting the adjoining woods for the purpose 

 of defaecation ; (6) prohibition as to the firing of grass till the month 

 of October, when only it is fit for burning, so as to ensure as large and 

 as effectively cleared areas as possible ; (7) removal to fly-free areas 

 whenever feasible, of villages situated in danger zones. 

 ' To expedite clearing operations axes and heavy knives have been 

 supplied to natives in the sleeping sickness area, and during a recent 

 inspection there was reason to be satisfied that some measures of 

 protection at all events will be secured from the bites of tsetse-flies, 

 and it is anticipated that the danger of man-to-man infection may be 

 considerably reduced. 



The supervision of these clearing operations has been placed in the 

 hands of Medical Officer's patrols and of the police. The w^ork is being 

 done by the villagers themselves without payment and Dr. Conran is 

 satisfied that the various headmen did not regard this labour as an 

 imposition, but appeared to take an inteUigent interest in the work. 



Theobald (F. V.). Culicidae from New Caledonia and the Loyalty 



Islands. [Forschimgen in Neu-Caledonien mid aiif den Loi/altij 

 Inseln.] — A. Zoologie, Wiesbaden, i, pt. 3, 1913, pp. 163-164. 



Only two species of mosquitos were taken by the Expedition in New 

 Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands, namely Cidex jepsoni, Theo., 

 C. nocturnus, Theo., and C. noclunms niger, var. nov. 



HiNDLE (E.). A Chinese Flea-trap. — Proc. Cambridge Phil. Soc, 

 Cambridge, xvii, pt. 3, 8th Sept. 1913, p. 284, 1 fig. 



. ". A flea-trap which is much used by the natives in Sze-Chwan has been 

 obtained, through Mr. S. A. Stericker, from Cheng-tu the capital of that 



