180 



The species obtained were as follows in the order of frequency : — 

 Theobaldia anmdata, Schrank, Culex pipiens, L., Anopheles maculi- 

 pennis, Meig., and Culex lateralis, Meig. 



The largest number of larvae were found in the pools which were 

 best protected from the wind, and which were well exposed to the sun 

 during a large portion of the day ; they generally contained quantities 

 of vegetable debris. Anopheles were specially abundant in these 

 places, and it was only later that they were found in other pools of 

 clear water containing growling plants. In the course of rearing the 

 •larvae it was found that the nymphs of Anopheles cannot withstand 

 dirty water, although they appear to be very vigorous in the stagnant 

 water of the pools in which they w^ere collected ; the nymphs died ofE 

 regularly and no adults were reared until the larvae were transferred 

 to pure water. At first 15 to 20 males emerged for every female. 

 As the work proceeded the number of females increased, but it was 

 always less than that of the males. 



This Anopheles was found by Langeron in Brittany and is also 

 very common in the district of the Dombes, about Lyons, in the 

 neighbourhood of Grenoble and in the Haute-Saone. The zone sur- 

 rounding the Prado, which was especially searched, and is still very 

 rich in Anopheles, was at one time reputed malarious. This is the first 

 time that Culex lateralis has been found in France, although w^ell 

 known in other parts of Europe. In 1908, Aubert and Guerin found an 

 adult Stegomyia fasciata in the park of the Chateau du Pharo, and 

 one of the authors found another individual near the Prefecture, 

 but does not feel justified in offering any hypothesis as to its origin. 



A full hst of CuLiciDAE found will be shortly pubhshed. 



Ticks and Lamziekte. — Agric. Jl. Union S. Africa, Pretoria, viii, no. 1, 

 July 1914, pp. 1-3. 



In this editorial note attention is drawn to the belief of many 

 farmers in South Africa that lamziekte is due to ticks and that 

 blue-ticks can penetrate through the ear into the brain of the animal. 

 It is asserted that the disease is unknown except during the tick season, 

 and a large amount of correspondence has taken place in the local 

 papers on the subject. This theory is completely contradicted by the 

 fact that over large areas where cattle dipping against the ticks has 

 been vigorously carried out and ticks, to all intents and purposes, 

 completely eradicated, lamziekte still exists and the farmers in such 

 districts are perfectly aware that dipping has not the shghtest effect 

 upon the disease. The belief to the contrary is probably largely sup- 

 ported by the fact that the larval and nymphal stages of the red tick 

 are passed deep in the ear. Sir A. Theiler, two or three years ago, 

 found at Vryburg a specimen of Ornithodorus megnini on a cow suffering 

 from lamziekte. This species, the " spinose ear tick " of America, 

 was probably imported with Texas cattle after the war, as it is now 

 known in many parts of South Africa. Though this tick also passes 

 its larval and nymphal stages deep in the ear, and is undoubtedly very 

 troublesome to cattle, it can have no connection with lamziekte, 

 which is very prevalent where these ticks do not occur. The passage 

 of a tick from the outer ear to the brain of an animal is a physical 

 impossibihty, and the view that ticks are the carriers or transmitters 

 of this disease is not supported by facts. '^ 



