390 



CAPT. P. J. BARRAUD. 



Adults of A. maculipennis var. were found in camps on the sands near the Kishon, 

 and a few from time to time in camps above Haifa town at 300 feet ; also in the lower 

 western part of the town, at least one and a half miles from the nearest breeding 

 place, as far as I could discover. Larvae were never found within the town limits, 

 either in covered or uncovered collections of water. 



At the end of April larvae began to appear in an area flooded by late rains, north 

 of Acre town, in the neighbourhood of a battalion camp. This area soon became dry, 

 but in the meantime large numbers of A. maculipennis var. had hatched out, and 

 an outbreak of malaria occurred, lasting several months. The first primary case 

 of benign tertian waareported on 28th May and of malignant tertian on 27th June. 



The species occurs from 1,200 feet below sea-level to 2,300 feet above. My collec- 

 tion includes specimens from the following places : — 



Palestine : Sarona (near Jaffa) ; Zummarin ; Athlit ; Haifa ; Acre ; El Afule ; 

 Jenin ; Tabgha (north of Tiberias), along the course of the Jordan from the Sea of 

 Galilee to near the Dead Sea. Syria : Damascus ; Homs ; River Ak Valley (near 

 Marash). Cilicia : Missis ; Jihan ; Toprak Kali. 



Anopheles bifurcatus, L. 



As mentioned previously, this is the most abundant domestic Anopheline mosquito 

 of Palestine and Syria, breeding almost exclusively in basement rain-water cisterns 

 and covered surface wells. I did not discover the larvae in any natural open water 

 in Palestine, but at Beirut (Syria) larvae and pupae were taken from a small gently 

 flowing stream containing much vegetation and over-grown with bushes. It appears 

 to be essentially a cool-water species. The temperature of the water in basement 

 cisterns in a coastal town, such as Haifa, varies between about 58°F. in winter and 

 78°F. in summer. During the spring and early summer, when breeding is most 

 active, the water was found to remain at about 62°F. Larvae may be found through- 

 out the year in their favourite haunts, but feed up more slowly in winter than during 

 the warmer months. The majority of larvae must pass their whole existence in 

 semi-darkness, the sun's rays seldom penetrating to these deep cisterns. 



Examinations were made at Haifa in November, before the autumn rains, when 

 many of the cisterns were dry or contained very little water. In most cases they 

 were clean, with very little, if any, debris upon the floor. In others, which had 

 probably not been cleaned out for some years, the walls had become green, and there 

 was a thicker floor deposit. Further investigations in January, after about six 

 weeks of heavy rains, revealed the presence of very large numbers of adults. Collec- 

 tions were made of individuals resting on the walls, within reach of the opening. 

 At first I was under the impression that they were all females, but while carrying out 

 « series of fumigation experiments, it was found that in cases where all the mosquitos 

 had not been killed by the fumes, most of the survivors were males. These were 

 restmg or flying about near the openings when the cisterns were examined. On 

 several occasions in January I was bitten by females disturbed from cisterns. 



Examinations were continued in April in parts of Haifa not previously visited. 

 Larvae were found to be present in nearly every case, together with adults. Usually 

 Home larvae were obtained in the first bucket of water drawn. After that it was 



