August 1, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



163 



The opening chapter, Economic Considera- 

 tions, sets forth the direct and indirect losses 

 occasioned by malaria and gives a concrete 

 case to illustrate how serious these may be to 

 a small community. It is shown that in a 

 "town of 4,000 inhabitants, in the northern 

 Sacramento Valley, the expense and loss in- 

 ■eurred during 1911, leaving out of considera- 

 iion the resultant depreciation of real estate, 

 amounted to about $75,000. In the itemized 

 account it is shown that this community in 

 combating malaria during 1911 spent $972.50 

 for quinine and $1,800 for patent medicines. 

 The latter item is particularly striking when 

 one considers that quinine is the only specific 

 for malaria and that such medicines usually 

 contain little or no quinine. They are there- 

 fore' simply an additional drain upon the 

 malarial victims. The author, basing upon 

 experience elsewhere, states that effective mos- 

 quito-control work would cost this community 

 about $2,000 a season and that the result 

 would be the reduction of malaria by at least 

 50 per cent, the first year and 80 per cent, in 

 the second year. The figures show strikingly 

 how well mosquito-control work pays in a 

 malarious region. 



In the chapter. Malaria and its Transmis- 

 sion, the complex life history of the malarial 

 parasites is explained in the simplest possible 

 language, although not altogether satisfac- 

 torily. The author seems unaware that the 

 pigment spots of the malarial parasites are 

 the products of the ingested haemoglobin. The 

 following statement is surely an inversion of 

 cause and effect, both the enlargement of the 

 blood corpuscles and the ansemia being directly 

 lirought about by the parasites : " Enlarged 

 parasitized corpuscles occur in this species 

 [Plasmodium prwcox], but merely as a coin- 

 ■cident, since enlarged corpuscles commonly 

 occur in anaemia, and these may be entered by 

 the sporozoits " (p. 21). On page 28 the ques- 

 tion is again brought up, and favored, whether 

 there are reservoir hosts other than man for 

 tLe asexual phases of the parasites. This 

 needlessly obscures the subject, as there is a 

 wealth of evidence to controvert such a belief 

 and it is dismissed by all careful students. 



The two chapters Mosquitoes in General 

 and Anopheline or Malaria Mosquitoes show 

 a fragmentary knowledge which the author 

 might easily have remedied by a little careful 

 reading in the works cited in his brief bibliog- 

 raphy. On page 31 the statement is made 

 that " the Culicidae are distinguished from all 

 other Nematoceran Diptera by the presence of 

 scales on the wings and body." Such scales, 

 however, occur in the Psychodidse and in cer- 

 tain Tipulidse and Chironomidse. On page 33 

 the Culicidae are said to divide into two sub- 

 families, the Anophelinse with the palpi long 

 in both sexes, and the Culicinas with the palpi 

 long in the male and short in the female. 

 Aside from the fact that the relative length of 

 the palpi is now discarded as a primary char- 

 acter by most students, there exist a consid- 

 erable number of species with the palpi short 

 in both sexes {MAinm of the older authors) 

 and still others which must be looked upon as 

 intermediate. The statement that " the males 

 of all species of mosquitoes, as far as known, 

 are provided with plumose antenna " is far 

 from correct. The statement (p. 42) that in 

 all " culicine " (as against " anopheline ") 

 mosquitoes " except Siegomyia calopus the 

 eggs are placed on end, forming a boat-shaped 

 pack or raft," shows that the author is un- 

 aware of the considerable progress made 

 within the last ten years in the knowledge of 

 mosquito biology. The statement, too, that 

 single mosquitoes may lay 750 eggs is con- 

 trary to the experience of many reliable ob- 

 servers. On the other hand, it is gratifying 

 to find the author contending against the com- 

 mon idea that mosquitoes fly considerable dis- 

 tances. He rightly states that as a rule mos- 

 quitoes do not fly far and that the salt-marsh 

 species are an exception in this respect. The 

 chapters which follow deal with mosquito con- 

 trol. The importance of locating actual 

 breeding-places is emphasized. The value of 

 different control measures is discussed, the 

 permanent abolition of breeding-places being 

 held out as the ideal. An insight is given 

 into practical work by a brief account of the 

 local campaigns with which the author has 

 been connected. The book should be useful in 



