EESEARCH IN BRITISH WEST AFRICA. 351 



on November 30tli, aud in the vicinity of the stream which passes this town 

 caught ten G. tachinoides and three G. j)alpalis. He further adds : — " If 

 sleeping sickness did exist in Bebua it has disappeared now. Cattle trypano- 

 somiasis does still exist to a certain extent. Behua, for some reason which 

 it is not easy to explain, is apparently an isolated patch of the district 

 infested with Glossina." 



VIII. PEOTOZOAL DISEASES IN MAN AND OTHEK ANIMALS. 

 Malaria. 



As in the other West African Colonies, this is by far the most prevalent insect- 

 borne disease in Northern Nigeria, but of recent years the number of cases has 

 been gradually diminishing, owing in part to the extensive use of quinine as a 

 prophylactic, and further to the measures adopted to effect a diminution in the 

 number of mosquitos. The importance of the latter is now universally recognised, 

 and much efiective work has been done in this direction by the Medical Depart- 

 ment. In order to strengthen its position in this matter, legislation is necessary, 

 so that when once the sanitary officer has directed attention to any deficiency it 

 should be made a punishable offence if this is not remedied within a reasonable 

 time. 



Yellow Fever. 



So far as I could ascertain, no actual case of yellow fever has been reported 

 from Noi'thern Nigeria. But in view of the fact that it has recently been 

 admitted that yellow fever is endemic in West Africa and has been reported 

 from Southern Nigeria, and also that Stegomyia fasciata has been recorded from 

 Lokoja, Baro, Creidam and Sokoto, in Northern Nigeria, stringent measures 

 ought to be adopted to try if possible to exterminate this pest. It is now well 

 known that this mosquito does not breed in large expanses of water or swamps 

 but prefers small collections of water, such as one finds in tin cans and other small 

 vessels. For this reason the disposal of the inevitable empty tins and such like 

 is a matter for serious consideration, and it is to the individual houses and 

 compounds that attention must be directed. Unfortunately in many cases the 

 compounds around European bungalows are very often not free from such small 

 receptacles. Some attempt should therefore be made to have these collected 

 regularly and buried, and to aid the sanitary officer in this work it should be 

 made a punishable oflPence to have any such receptacle lying within a compound, 

 and that even in the dry season. The gutters on the bungalows retaining, as 

 they do, the collected moisture from the evening dew on the roofs, when not 

 carefully supervised, often hold sufficient water for Stegomyia to breed. These 

 ought to be properly sloped and regularly cleaned so that such collections of 

 water would be impossible. 



It is unnecessary here to enter further into this matter as an instructive 

 article by the late Sir Rubert Boyce on this subject has already appeared in this 

 BuUetLn.* 



*■ Bull. Ent. Res. I, pt. 4, pp. 233-263. 



