August 11, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



203 



portunities to satisfy that appetite from the 

 same host, man, has made the malarial rela- 

 tion possible. 



The important malaria transmitters are to 

 be found among the most bloodthirsty species, 

 and such species will mutiply rapidly in the 

 presence of an abundant food-supply, as when 

 laborers are massed at some previously unin- 

 habited point. That there will be a corre- 

 sponding decrease in these Anopheles when the 

 food-supply is removed goes without saying. 



Returning to the conditions in India, it is 

 interesting to note that the most " domestic " 

 species of Anopheles rossii, already indicated 

 in the foregoing, is not a malaria transmitter. 

 The most important transmitters are species 

 normally breeding at a distance from human 

 habitations and showing no special " domes- 

 ticity." They have, however, a very highly 

 developed appetite for blood, and this, in spite 

 of their very much smaller numbers, makes 

 them most effective transmitters of the mala- 

 rial parasites. 



1. (1912, April 27.) Knab, F., Unconsidered 



Factors in Disease Transmission by Blood- 

 sucking Insects. Jour. Econ. Ent., Vol. 5, 

 pp. 196-200. 



2. (1912.) Knab, F., [Dependence of Disease 



Transmission by Blood-sucking Insects 

 upon Habits]. Proc. Ent. Wash., Vol. 14, 

 pp. 79-81. 



3. (1913, Jan. 13.) Knab, F., Blood-sucking 



Insects as Transmitters of Human Disease. 

 Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash., Vol. 14, pp. 219-221. 



4. (1913, July.) Knab, F., The Species of 



Anopheles that Transmit Human Malaria. 

 Amer. Jour. Trop. Vis. and Prev. Med., 

 Vol. 1, pp. 33-43, 277. 



5. (1913, Oct. 3.) Knab, F., The Contentions 



regarding ' ' Forest Malaria. ' ' Proc. Ent. 

 Wash., Vol. 15, pp. 110-114. 



6. (1912.) Jennings, Allan H., Some Problems 



of Mosquito Control in the Tropics. Jour. 

 Econ. Ent., Vol. 5, pp. 131-141. 



7. (1913.) Lutz, A., The Insect Host of Forest 



Malaria. Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash., Vol. 15, 

 pp. 108-109. 



8. (1913.) Lutz, A., Forest Malaria. Proc. Ent. 



Wash., Vol. 15, pp. 169-170. 



9. (1908.) Miihlens, P., Ueber einheimisehe 



Malariaerkrankungen in der Umgegend von 

 Wilhelmshaven und ihre Bekampfung. 



Arch. f. Schiffs- u. Tropen-Hyg., Bd. 5, pp. 

 58-70; Malariabekampfung in Wilhelms- 

 haven und Umgegend. ii. Arch. f. Schiffs- 

 u. Tropen-Hyg., 1909, Beiheft 6, pp. 166- 

 173. 

 10. (1915.) Zetek, James, Behavior of Anopheles 

 albimanus Wied. and tarsimaculata Goeldi. 

 Ann. Ent. Soc. Amer., Vol. 3, pp. 221-271. 



Allan H. Jennings 

 U. S. Bureau or Entomology 



GOITER AMONG THE INDIANS ALONG THE 

 MISSOURI 



The writer would like to call the attention 

 of those interested to the excessive prevalence 

 of goiter and symptoms of thyroid derange- 

 ment among the Indians along that part of the 

 Missouri Valley comprised between the Can- 

 non Ball Creek and Cheyenne River, in North 

 and South Dakota. The prevalence and rela- 

 tive acuteness of these conditions are such as 

 to demand some special steps for their control 

 or relief, and invite a thorough local investi- 

 gation of conditions by specialists or institu- 

 tions. 



The people in question are the Cheyenne 

 River and Fort Yates Sioux, and were visited 

 by the writer last April. The frequency of 

 goiter among the Cheyenne River bands 

 ("Blackfeet" and "Two-Kettle") has been 

 known for many years. In 1908, on the occa- 

 sion of the writer's report on various diseases 

 among the Indians, 1 they were in that respect 

 at the head of the column, with 61.4 cases of 

 goiter per thousand population, compared to 3 

 per thousand for the U. S. Indians as a whole. 

 But the present extent and the equally great or 

 even greater frequency of the disease in cer- 

 tain parts of the Fort Yates territory have not 

 been suspected. 



The writer examined in the two localities 

 mentioned between 400 and 500 children and 

 adults. The examinations were for anthropo- 

 logical purposes, and no record was kept of the 

 exact proportion of thyroid enlargements; but 

 the subject soon forced itself upon his atten- 

 tion. Case after case was met, particularly 



i Hrdlicka, Ales, ' ' Physical and Medical Obser- 

 vations among the Indians of Southwestern U. S. 

 and Northern Mexico," p. 201. 



