18 



of disease ; it is therefore eminently desirable that medical 

 men in Tropical Africa should be familiar with the main facts 

 in the economy of the insects, so far as these are at present 

 known, in order that they may serve as a basis for future work. 

 Until about a year ago there was no definite reason for re- 

 garding the species of Phlebotomus with greater interest than the 

 majority of other blood-sucking flies, that is, as being anything 

 more than potential disease-carriers by direct transmission. Dr. 

 Andre Pressat, Medical Officer of the Suez Canal Company, stated 

 in 1905 that a species of Phlebotomus (very possibly Ph. papatasii, 

 Scop.), which occurs in Egypt, " appears to play an important part 

 in the propagation of Oriental sore," but no evidence was given in 

 support of the assertion.* Again, certain observations made in 

 India by Captain J. D. E. Holmes, I.M.S., Imperial Bacteriologist, 

 point to the advisability of instituting experiments in order to 

 determine whether Phlebotomus is capable of acting as a transmitter 

 of surra and other forms of trypanosomiasis.f Be this as it may, 

 in 1908 it was conclusively proved by the well-known Austrian 

 Army Surgeon R. Doerr, acting as a member of a commission, of 

 which the other members were Staff -Surgeons Franz and Taussig, 

 also of the Austrian Army, that an endemic, non-fatal, three-day 

 fever prevalent during the hot weather in Herzegovina and 

 Dalmatia, is disseminated by the bites of Phlebotomus papatasii, 

 known locally, as also in Italy, as " Pappataci." This fever, which, 



* Of. Andr6 Pressat, "Le Paludisme et Les Moustiques " (Paris: Masson et Cie., 

 1905), PL III., and accompanying explanation. Pressat, who mentions that the 

 insect "passes through the meshes of the finest mosquito-curtains," and that it 

 " flies noiselessly, and its bites produce a persistent itching," says that it is called in 

 Arabic Akhl-ou-Skout. According to Dr. F. M. Sandwith, the correct form of this 

 phrase is Akhl-e-Skout, meaning "silent eater." 



f Writing from the Imperial Bacteriological Laboratory, Muktesar (Naini Tal 

 District), United Provinces, India, on January 23rd, 1908, Captain Holmes said: 

 " Last year an outbreak of surra carried off over one hundred tonga ponies on this 

 road . . . We noticed a very interesting point. The ponies were badly bitten at 

 night, and in the morning the hairs on the neck and back were covered with small 

 blood-clots. No Tabanidae or Stomoxya were to be found at this time (evening, 

 night, or very early morning), and the only insect that we could detect on the 

 ponies was what appeared like ' gnats,' which you have informed me are a species 

 of Phlebotomus . . . Bullocks and cows are bitten in the same manner at night. 

 Ponies worked side by side with, and also standing by day in the same stable as 

 affected ones, did not get the disease when taken about one or two miles apart, and 

 stabled in non-infected stables at night." 



