140 



used so frequently that the author says it became necessary to prove 

 or disprove the theory. Experimental paddocks were constructed, 

 enclosed by strong double fences with a neutral zone between them. 

 Susceptible cattle were introduced into the inner enclosure and 

 infected ticks from the laboratory placed on them, and at the same 

 time engorged female ticks were distributed in the paddock, which 

 was by these means infected with a goodly number of larvae. In 

 due course, when the animals showed symptoms of East Coast fever, 

 clean larvae of the brown tick {R. appendicidatus) were placed upon 

 them. The animals died, and the paddock was re-stocked with further 

 susceptible animals, all of which succumbed to the disease carried to 

 them by the ticks which had dropped off their predecessors. This 

 was repeated through three generations, thus clearly proving that the 

 brown tick was capable of hving and transmitting the disease in the 

 Rift Valley, and that the farmers' theories were dangerous and in- 

 correct. On the death of all the animals, the carcases of which were 

 burned, the grass paddocks were burned, but the fencing was left 

 intact to insure the thorough cleaning of the area. 



Und(;r regulations framed by the Quarantine Board, all cattle 

 belonging to natives within the infected areas of Kyambu and Nairobi 

 were removed back to their respective reserves, and the author is of 

 opinion that, until such tijne as some method of deahng with East 

 Coast fever is possible, no native-owTied cattle should be permitted to 

 leave their reserves. Once the grazing of native stock on European 

 farms is allowed, then smreptitious movement of animals, with all its 

 attendant dangers, will take place. 



Austen (E. E.) & Bagshawe (A. G.). Suggestions for Entomological 

 Research in connection with Sleeping Sickness. — Report of the 

 Departmental Committee on Sleeping Sickness, Appendix D, 

 London, 1914, pp. 290-291. 



The following are among the subjects to which the authors suggest 

 that special attention should be directed : — 



Influence of Odours. Efforts should be made to determine whether 

 tsetse-flies in choosing a breeding-place are in any way influenced by 

 odours ; or whether, as Mr. Lloyd beheves in the case of G. morsitans, 

 the existence of a relatively dark spot " where the mother fly can hide 

 during pregnancy " is the dominant factor. The odours by which 

 insects are attracted are not necessarily perceptible to the human 

 nostril, and consequently it does not follow that because the breeding- 

 places of G. morsitans and G. palpalis appear to human beings to have 

 no distinctive odour, such odour is not apparent to a pregnant tsetse- 

 fly. In India it has recently been found by Mr. F. M. Howlett that 

 Stomoxijs calcitrans will oviposit freely " on cotton- wool soaked in 

 valerianic acid, one of the acids present in the fermenting vegetable 

 stuff in which the eggs of this species are naturally deposited." There 

 appear to be some grounds for hoping that, if it be possible to analyse 

 the himius in tsetse-fly breeding-places, some substance or essence of 

 a specially attractive nature may be found. If discovered, this would, 

 of course, be used in connection with artificial breeding-grounds. 



Artificial Breeding -Places. Every effort should be made to construct 

 these, and to test their practical efficacy. If bird-hme or some other 



