HOW IS ORIENTAL SORE SPREAD ? 207 



in direct experiments, feeding them on sores, and 

 then dissecting some so fed, while others were allowed 

 to feed again on healthy animals or on himself. First, 

 by careful experiment on himself, he proved that the 

 fly could not infect direct by carrying infected 

 material on its legs or its proboscis, nor did a long 

 series of observations on cuts, scratches, sores, or 

 ulcers of children throughout the fly season show a 

 single parasite. Again, at any rate in Cambay, the 

 parasite did not develop in the two most common 

 house-flies, nor could it be found that the disease 

 spread in a house during the fly season, even when 

 several people with suitable sores were dwelling 

 therein. Moreover, the sore is most frequently con- 

 tracted in Cambay during the very severe, cold 

 weather, when house-flies are extremely scarce. 



Both body and head lice, several mosquitoes, and 

 human and dog fleas, gave negative results. The 

 most common insect in the houses of the people of 

 Cambay was the bed-bug, Cimex rotundatus. By a 

 number of experiments Captain Patton found that 

 the parasites readily develop in the stomach of a 

 bug so long as the temperature does not go above 

 25 C., and it is worth noting that Oriental Sore 

 only occurs in those parts of India where there is de- 

 cidedly cold weather. Next, the investigator showed 

 that young, immature bugs were best for the develop- 

 ment of the parasite, and that in them it developed 

 rapidly. 



Investigations were made of the insects likely to 

 return if disturbed when feeding, and the mosquito 

 Stegomyia and the bed-bug were found to behave 



