47 



DE Meza (J.). Report of the Acting Senior Veterinary Officer. - 



Nyasaland, Protectorate Ann. Rept. Dept. Agric. for Year ended 

 3ist March 1918, Zomha, 31st October 1918, pp. 18-19. [Received 

 24th January 1919.] 



Demodectic mange has now practically disappeared from the 

 Zomba district, only three cases having been discovered, all of which 

 were immediately slaughtered. 



Boophilus decoloratus, the tick carrying piroplasmosis, has now 

 almost disappeared from the same district, though it appeared in 

 another where several animals died before advice and remedies could 

 be obtamed. 



One outbreak of trypanosomiasis is reported from an area where 

 Glossina brevipalpis occurs, and where, for this reason, cases must be 

 expected to occur from time to time. 



DoRE (A. B.). Rat Trypanosomes in New Zealand. — N.Z. Jl. Science 

 & TecJmohgy, Wellington, i, no. 4, July 1918, p. 200. [Received 

 31st January 1919.] 



Trypanosoma lewisi has been recorded in rats from most parts of 

 the world, but not hitherto from New Zealand. It is transmitted 

 from one rat to another by fleas and lice. The blood-examination 

 of several hundred rats caught in various parts of the North Island 

 has shown the presence of trypanosomes the measurements of which 

 correspond with those obtained elsewhere for T. lewisi. Of rats 

 caught in the neighbourhood of sewers, 30 per cent, were found infected, 

 as against 12 per cent, of those captured on wharves and in grain- 

 stores. In view of the fact that the native rats introduced by the 

 Maoris are rapidly disappearing, it seems possible that this trypano- 

 some may be the primary cause, as they may not have the immunity 

 which the European species probably possess. 



Metz (C. W.). Anopheles crucians. Habits of Larvae and Adults. — 

 U.S. Public Health Repts., Washington, B.C., xxxiii, no. 49, 

 6th December 1918, pp. 2156-2169. 



During malaria investigations in Alabama in the summer of 1918, 

 a study was undertaken of Anopheles crucians, which is less known 

 than either of the other species common to the gulf coast region of 

 the United States, namely, A. punctipennis and A. quadrimacvlatus. 

 The breeding ground was a shallow swamp about three miles long 

 that occupied a natural watercourse which during the rainy season 

 had a sluggish flow but later dried up into a series of shallow, isolated 

 puddles. A wide range of conditions existed in this swamp, part of 

 it being heavily wooded and part open and grassy. A small ditch 

 flowed into one end of the swamp, carrying refuse from a chemical 

 factory in which sulphuric acid was manufactured, the waters of 

 this ditch being heavily impregnated with chemicals. During mid- 

 April, when the swamp was first observed, the mean temperature 

 was from 40° to 59° F., the maximum being 67° and the minimum 

 35°. At that time the waters of tke swamp were literally covered 

 with Anopheline larvae, many of them nearly full-grown. These 

 were distributed without apparent discrimination throughout the 



