MYZOMYIA ROSS1I AS A MALARIA-CARRIER. 



By- W. T. DE Vogel.= 



It has several times been pointed out that malaria frequently occurs 

 in the Dutch East Indies near the seacoast; yet the fact remains that an 

 anopheline species which develops in brackish and salt water, and even 

 in concentrated sea water, and which has been found along the coast, 

 can not be accepted as a satisfactory explanation of this phenomenon 

 without further proof, for this particular anopheline is Myzomyia rossii 

 Theob., and many writers allege that it does not seem to be capable of 

 transmitting malaria. 3 



Giles 4 says that according to Daniels, of Calcutta, Myzomyia rossii can not 

 be infected either with tertian gametes or with crescents. Theobald states the 

 same thing. 5 



Donitz c writes that Ross experimented in vain with this species and that 

 the researches of Stephens and Christopher show that it has nothing to do with 

 malaria. 



In a report of the Wellcome Research Laboratories 7 the statement is made that 

 "not every anopheline can carry malaria, as witness Myzomyia rossii in India." 



Also Galli Vallerio and Rochaz de Jong 8 mention that this species does not 

 appear to be able to transmit malaria. Here in Java it is very difficult to secure 

 literature on the subject. Professor De Meyers, of Amsterdam, kindly informed 

 me by letter that the 1907 edition of Theobald's "A Monograph of the Culicidse 

 of the World" contains the following on page 3 : "M. Bossii is said not to be 

 an active distributer in India, while Mr. Green says he is almost sure it is 

 accountable for some of the outbreaks in Ceylon;" and on page 47, "the malarial 

 parasite will develop in it, but it has not yet been found infected naturally. 

 Mr. Green considers it to be the malarial carrier in parts of Ceylon, especially 

 in the Battieoloa district. He found the larvae breeding in the brackish lake at 

 Batticolao town, and on the coconut estates he found them breeding in small 

 water holes used for watering the young coconuts, and on some estates in 

 earthenware chatties sunk at the base of the palms." 



1 Read at the first biennial meeting of the Far Eastern Association of Tropical 

 Medicine, held at Manila, March 10, 1910. 



2 Chief medical officer, Samarang, Java. 



3 Cf. Banks, This Journal, Sec. B (1907), 2, 513; (1909), 4, 238. (Ed.) 

 4 A Handbook of the Gnats or Mosquitoes. London, 2d ed. (1902), 311. 

 5 A Monograph of the Culicidse of the World. London, 2d ed. (1901), 85. 

 ' Ztschr. f. Hyg. u. Infections-hrankh. (1902), 41, 15. 

 7 Second Rep. Wellcome Res. Lab., Khartoum (1906), 27. 

 'Manual pour la lutte contre les Moustiques. (1906). 



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