127 



singly in wide-mouthed bottles. Cultures of cholera on liquid human 

 faeces were introduced into the bottles by means of a pipette. 

 Powdered carmine was added to make it possible to identify a faeces 

 sample with a given feeding. Cholera dejections were also used with- 

 out addition of any kind, and it was found that a single insect would 

 frequently ingest as much as 0-2 cubic centimetre. After feeding they 

 were transferred to clean dry bottles in order to obtain faeces for 

 testing ; these faeces were generally " discharged about six hours 

 after the meal. On the day following, and on subsequent days, they 

 were given beef broth containing maltose, but no cholera vibrios 

 or carmine ; an almost immediate discharge of faeces was the usual 

 result. In eight cases after feeding with human cholera dejecta, 

 cholera vibrios were recovered from the insects' faeces ; in one case 

 a few were found 79 hours after feeding, and in several cases they 

 occurred in greater or less numbers from 24 to 48 hours after 

 ingestion. In two cases faeces obtained 29 J- and SO^ hours 

 respectively after feeding gave negative results, although carmine 

 still persisted therein and these same insects had passed faeces con- 

 taining cholera vibrios 5 hours previously. The cockroaches were 

 kept at a temperature of 29° to 31° C. Experiments were made to 

 determine the life of the cholera vibrios after discharge from the 

 cockroach, and it was found that if deposited in dry places, their 

 life was very short, but on moist materials, such as fresh beef, lettuce, 

 fish, etc., they remained mobile for at least 16 hours. 



The author observed that cockroaches disgorge portions of their 

 meal at various intervals after feeding, in some cases as long as an 

 hour, and cholera vibrios were found in the ejected material. These 

 insects exhibit no evidence of any infection by cholera, but simply 

 retain the cholera vibrios in the intestine, v.'here, according to the 

 author, they multiply. Guineapigs were killed by the injection of 

 cholera cultures which had been fed to a cockroach and discharged 

 in the faeces, and there is no evidence of any loss of virulence in 

 cholera vibrios after a period of 29 hours in the intestine of the insect. 



The author made similar experiments upon red ants (probably 

 Monomorium latinode, Mayr), but was not able to recover cholera 

 vibrios from their crushed bodies nearly 9 hours after feeding. 



Heiser (V. G.). Reappearance of Plague in the Philippines after an 

 Absence of Six Years. — Philippwe Jl. Scie)ice, Manila, Sec. B, ix, 

 no. 1, Feb. 1914, p. 5-23. 



After an absence of six years in human beings and five years in 

 rats, plague again appeared in the Philippines in man on the r7th June 

 1912, and up to 1st October 1913 there had been in Manila 68 cases 

 with 58 deaths, and in Iloilo 9 cases with 9 deaths. As Manila has 

 a population of nearly 300,000 and consists largely of wooden 

 buildings, harbouring many rats, a much larger number of cases 

 would not have been surprising, and considering the daily communica- 

 tions by sea between Manila and plague-infected ports, it is remarkable 

 that the island should have remained free for so many years. The 

 author attributes this to the fact that all such vessels are fumigated 

 at intervals of 6 months or less with sulphur dioxide, and that they 

 unload either into lighters in the bay or on to rat-proof wharves. 



