﻿436 The Philippine Journal of Science lou 



species, like Anopheles ludlowii, which breeds for the most part 

 near the sea coast, would be of little importance in an inland 

 country; Anopheles macidatus, which is chiefly a mosquito of 

 high altitudes, would be unimportant in a lowland country ; and 

 an anopheline that is not more or less adaptable to various con- 

 ditions and altitudes would play a lesser role in the transmission 

 of malaria in a country of varied topography, vegetation, and alti- 

 tudes. An anopheline must not only be susceptible, but it must 

 be of wide distribution and prevalence to be of prime importance 

 in the epidemiology of malaria in any country. 



Anophelines vary widely in their avidity for human blood. 

 Schiiffner (1902) was unable to make any individuals of one 

 species with which he experimented bite and suck the blood of 

 man; on the other hand, another species exhibited an intense 

 voracity for human blood. It is obvious that an anopheline 

 which has a strong inclination to seek and bite man will, other 

 things being equal, be more apt to transmit malaria than a 

 species which has less avidity for human blood. 



Certain species of Anophelinae, like Anopheles rossii, may be 

 called domestic species, although not to the extent of Stegomyia 

 calopiis or some species of the genus Culex, in that they breed 

 in the open near human habitations ; other species, like those of 

 the Myzorhynchus group, may be termed wild mosquitoes, in the 

 sense that they breed in and frequent the forest. Other things 

 being equal, it is probable that the more domestic species would 

 be the more important in the transmission of malaria, because 

 of the greater opportunity offered to them to bite and suck the 

 blood of malarial and healthy persons. However, in most trop- 

 ical countries, especially outside of the cities, the importance 

 of this factor would be more or less neutralized by the habits 

 and customs of the natives. The natives of most tropical 

 countries build their houses in or about the borders of the forest 

 and near water, usually along the banks of the jungle streams, 

 for the purpose of shade and other protection which the forest 

 offers and in order to be near a supply of water. It is the 

 custom, at least in the Philippines, for the natives to wash their 

 clothes and to bathe in these jungle streams and also to carry 

 water from them, often in the early morning or evening. There 

 is thus every opportunity for these people to be bitten by the 

 forest-loving anophelines that abound there. 



Much more work must be done, especially on the distribution 

 and prevalence of the Philippine Anophelinae, before the role 

 of the different species in the epidemiology of malaria in the 



