179 



NOTES ON SOME ANIMAL PARASITES IN BRITISH GUIANA. 



By G. E. Bodkin, B.A., Dip. Agric. (Cantab.), F.Z.S., F.E.S., 



Government Economic Biologist, British Guiana ; 



and 



L. D. Clears, Jnr., F.E.S., 



Biological Division, Dept. Sc. & Agric., British Guiana. 

 (Map III.) 



British Guiana lies between the latitudes 0"4r N. (source of the Essequebo River) 

 and 8° 33' 22" N. (Punta Playa), has a depth from north to south of about 500 miles, 

 a seaboard of about 270 miles trending in a south-easterly direction, and occupies 

 in the north-east of South America an area approximately equal in extent to Great 

 Britain. It is bounded on the north by the Atlantic Ocean, on the east by Surinam 

 or Dutch Guiana, on the south and south-west by Brazil, and on the west by 

 Venezuela. 



The Colony may be divided broadly into three belts.* The northern one consists 

 of a low-lying flat and swampy belt of marine alluvium — the coastal region. This 

 rises gradually from the seaboard and extends inland for a distance varying from 

 5 to 49 miles. It is succeeded by a broader and sHghtly elevated tract of country 

 of sandy and clayey soils. This belt is generally undulating, and is traversed in 

 places by sand-dunes rising from 50 to 180 ft. above sea-level. The more elevated 

 portion of the Colony lies to the southward of the above-mentioned regions. It 

 rises gradually to the south-west, between the river valleys, which are in many j^arts 

 swampy, and contains three principal mountain ranges, several irregularly distributed 

 smaller ranges, and in the southern and eastern parts numerous isolated hills and 

 mountains. The eastern portion is almost entirely forest-clad, but on the south- 

 western side there is an extensive area of flat grass-clad savannah land elevated 

 about 300 feet above sea-level. 



British Guiana has at times been described as an unhealthy country. This is an 

 undeserved calumny, as is clearly shown by the statistics of mortaUty of European 

 races other than Portuguese. For those who lead regular lives and do not expose 

 themselves to unnecessary risks the climate is decidedly a healthy one. The coast- 

 lands are swept throughout the year by the north-eastern trade winds, which add 

 greatly to the comfort, vigour and health of those resident thereon. The mean annual 

 rainfall near the coast is about 94 inches, and further inland about 105 inches. The 

 average mean shade temperature at or near the coast-lands for the past twenty-two 

 years is 80-0 F. The average mean maximum is 85'1 F., and the average mean 

 minimum 74*9 F. The greatest annual range is about 19 F. 



♦These notes on the geo.ixraphy and climate of the Colony have been reprinted from 

 an article on the field and forest resonrces of British Guiana inBuU. Imperial Institute, 

 xiii. Xo. 2, April-June, 10 lo, p. 203. 



(C288) b- 



