53 



Gordon Memorial College ut Khartoum, where Mr. H. H. King is Entomolo- 

 gist, but I was unable to line I time to go so far inland. These laboratories 

 have done some very fine work on the lines of the Tropical Schools of 

 Medicine, in dealing in particular with the sleeping sickness and in studying 

 the habits of biting and blood-sucking Hies, and other insects that transmit so 

 many tropical diseases. Thev have i-^ueil several very valuable reports, and 

 state the objects of their work in the last one: "To promote the study, 

 bacteriologkally and physiologically, of tropical disorders, especially the 

 infective diseases of both man and beast, peculiar to the Soudan ; and to 

 render assistance to the officers of health and to the clinics of the civil and 

 military hospitals. 



I also called at the Survey and Lands Department, and met Captain 

 Lyons. wh<> showed me the maps they are charting of the whole of the Nile 

 delta, cotton area, and the systems of irrigation carried out. At the Veteri- 

 nary Branch I met Mr. Littlewood, who said that their records of the 

 number of stock in the country were very irregular, and they had no idea of 

 the number of horses or sheep in the country, but last year (1907) it was 

 estimated from the returns that there were 718,000 cattle and 761,000 

 buffaloes, while there was a very large import of cattle and camels from 

 Syria. Soudan, Servia, and Russia. There are a great number of stock 

 disea-*-. Cattle tick is very common, and causes many deaths. Cattle 

 plague is a very serious difficulty and so is " malarial fever." Anthrax is 

 very common, but difficult to get at, because the owners never report the 

 disease. He mentioned a case which was discovered in a village by all the 

 old women dying in a mysterious manner. On inquiry it was found that 

 their business was to make the cattle dung into cakes for fuel. The cattle 

 of the village had died of anthrax, which the women thus contracted. 



I would point out the danger of the introduction of the form of " sleeping 

 sickness" with which camels become infected, often wasting away for a couple 

 of years before they recover. "We have many biting flies that might easily 

 become the agents in the spread of this or kindred diseases in Australia. 



Leaving Port Said on 20th May, I reached Bombay, India, on the 29th 

 May, where I immediately called upon the Acting Colonial Secretary, who 

 advised me to visit Poonah before I went across to Bengal. At Poonah I 

 met the Assistant Director of Agriculture, who gave me some reports upon 

 the crops, and then sent me on to the Agricultural College, where I met 

 Dr. H. H. Mann, who is a well-known entomologist in India. He showed 

 me the plans for the new college now in course of construction, and which 

 will accommodate 200 students. Pests, particularly scale insects, are not 

 common in this part of India. After mangoes, which are the universal 

 fruit all over the country, large quantities of h'gs are grown in the district 

 of Poonah. Dr. Mann had not noticed any fruit-fly in the local fruit, but 

 promised to keep a look out, and send me specimens if found. From Poonah 

 I returned to Bombay and took the Calcutta train, reaching Chheoki 

 railway station, where I met Mr. Hewlett, second Imperial Entomologist, 

 who had come down from Pusa to meet me, and with him went on to Allahabad. 

 Here we spent a day among the melon gardens, where we found many fruit- 

 flies scattered about. We experimented with citronella oil to see if it would 

 attract them. On examination we found that the common melon fly was 

 identical with the species so common in Hawaii, and named by Coquillet 

 Dacus cvcurbitce. From Allahabad went on to Cawnpore and visited the 

 Agricultural College, and met Mr. Hayman, who was on the eve of leaving 

 the position of experimentalist. Returning to the station we came on the 

 same evening to Lucknow, and the next day visited Karori village, where 



