268 R. W. DOANE DISEASE-BEARING 



first specimen of this species was captured one morning inside the bed-net, filled 

 with blood. About this time we began to notice that some of the mosquito bites 

 on our hands, faces or legs were much more troublesome than others, producing 

 more irritation and often causing small sores, possibly by secondary infection. 

 While Ave were not able to connect this mosquito definitely with these more 

 troublesome bites, we believed that it was the offender, as the two things appeared 

 at the same time. The larvae and pupae of this species were found in consider- 

 able numbers in the water collected at the base of tamu leaves (Plate XXXI). 

 This large-leafed plant, which is much like taro, is grown in many places and 

 when taro is scarce the roots are often used for food. 



Almost or quite as dangerous and troublesome as the mosquitos, are the house- 

 flies, Musca domestica, that occur in swarms around the houses and huts and in 

 the fields in Samoa. On wet and cloudy days they are most persistent, swarming 

 around any food that is available and crawling over everyone and everything. 

 Merely waving the hand or a fan close to them will not disturb them. They 

 refuse to fly until the danger of their being struck is most evident. As in other 

 countries, we might look on these flies with more equanimity did we not know 

 that they are so apt to be contaminating our food with typhoid or other germs 

 or distributing over our bodies the organisms that may cause loathsome diseases. 



Typhoid is not very prevalent in these islands, but investigation would probably 

 show that many of the cases that do occur could be traced to food contaminated 

 by flies. 



Framboesia, or yaws, is quite common, particularly among children, and is 

 known locally as " tona " or " lupani tona ". Children badly affected with the 

 sores caused by this disease are seen playing about the houses or streets with 

 other children. The flies which feed freely on the sores doubtless transfer the 

 parasites, Treponema pertenue, which cause the disease, to less malignant sores or 

 abrasions on the skin of other children who may thus become infected. 



Another dreaded disease that is carried by flies is Samoan conjunctivitis, a 

 disease said to be peculiar to these islands. Again the children are the greatest 

 sufferers. It is a pitiful and disgusting sight, indeed, to see the flies swarming 

 around the sore eyes of so many of the children on the street. The older children 

 sometimes make feeble efforts to drive the flies away, but the little fellows seem 

 to take them as a part of the game, and the flies gather in great numbers, 

 sometimes forming black rings beneath the eyes, and feed undisturbed on the 

 discharges from the affected eyes. The persistent efforts that the flies are 

 always making to get to a person's eyes, whether the eyes are affected or not, is 

 truly remarkable and most exasperating. Only by constant watchfulness can they 

 be kept away. 



Blindness in one or both of the eyes is very commonly caused by this disease. 

 White children frequently are troubled with the disease, particularly if they are 

 allowed to play with the native children or are cared for by native nurses whose 

 eyes may be affected. The most efficient remedies promptly applied do not 

 always serve to save the eyesight, therefore most watchful care is necessary. 



It is possible that these flies may be responsible, in part at least, for the spread 

 of other less common diseases, but these are enough to show the necessity for some 



