6l2 THE ANIMAL PARASITES OF MAN 



Mesnil all hold this view (vide Laveran and Mesnil, " Trypanosomes and Trypano- 

 somiases," second edition, 1912, p. 330). 



[Lynchia. Three members of this genus have been shown to transmit the 

 non-pathogenic (?) organism, H&moproteus columbcs amongst pigeons in Algeria 

 and S. America. 



Insects and Epidemic Poliomyelitis. 



[In a recent number of the Journal of Economic Rntomology? Brues and 

 Sheppard point out the possibility of acute epidemic poliomyelitis (infantile paralysis) 

 being an insect-borne disease. They summarize as follows : 



[Many facts connected with the distribution of cases and the spread of epidemics 

 of this disease with histories of insects bites, suggest at least that the disease may 

 be insect-borne. Field work during the past summer, together with a consideration 

 of the epidemiology of the disease so far known, points strongly towards biting 

 flies as possible carriers of the virus. It seems probable that the common stable 

 fly (Stomoxys calcitrans, L.) may be responsible to a certain extent for the spread 

 of acute epidemic poliomyelitis, possibly aided by other biting flies such as 

 Tabanus lineola. No facts which disprove such a hypothesis have as yet been 

 adduced, and experiments based upon it are now in progress. 



[If the disease should prove to be common to any species of domestic animals, 

 as is now strongly suspected, a secondary connection of ticks in spreading the 

 disease among such animals seems probable, as has been mentioned. 



[The following is some of the more important literature on Diptera in general : Meigen, 

 J. W., "Syst. Besch. d. bek. europ. zweifliigligen insecten," 1818-1838, 7 vols. ; Brauer, F. 

 "Monographic der Oestriden," Wien, 1863; Idem, " Nachtr. hiersu, " Wien. ent. Zeit.y 

 1887, vi, pp. 4, 71 ; Schiner, J. R., " Fauna austriaca : die Fliegen," Wien, 1860-64; Low, Fr., 

 " Ueber Myiasis und ihre Erzeuger," Wien. vied. Wochenschr., 1882, xxii, p. 247; 1883, 

 xxxiii, p. 972; Joseph, G., " Ueb. Fliegen als Schadlinge und Parasiten des Menschen," 

 Deutsch. med. Zeit., 1885, i, p. 37 ; 1887, iii, pp. 713 and 725 ; Peiper, E., " Fliegenlarven als 

 gelegentl. Paras, d. Mensch.," Berlin, 1900; Theobald, F. V., " Monograph of the Culicidae 

 of the World," 1901-1911, 5 vols. and i atlas, plates ; Austen, E., "A Monograph of Glossina 

 Tsetse-flies," 1903, I vol.; Van der Wulp, "Diptera neerlandica," 1877; Walker, " Insecta 

 Britannica : Diptera," 1851-53 and 1856; Lundbeck, "Diptera danica," 1907-12; Zetterstedt, 

 "Diptera scandinavise," 1850; Theobald, "British Flies," 1892; Aldrich, " N. American 

 Diptera," 1905 ; Loew and Osten Sacken, "Monographs of the N. American Diptera,'' 

 1862-63 ar >d 1869; Macquart, "Diptera exotique," 1830-47; Rondani, "Diptera exotica et 

 Italica," 1863-68; Williston, "Manual of Families and Genera of N. American Diptera," 

 second edition ; Verrall, " British Flies." A fuller literature will be found in Peiper, as well as 

 in Huber's " Bibliographie d. klin. Ent.," 1899, iii, Jena, in the Bibliography at the end of 

 this work and in the Rev. of App. Ent. (Dulau and Co., London), where all references to 

 modern research can be found. F. V. T.] 



Charles T. Brues and Philip A. E. Sheppard, "The Possible Etiological Relation of 

 certain Biting Insects to the Spread of Infantile Paralysis," Journ. Econ. Ent., 1912, cciv, 

 pp. 305-324- 



