490 



Col. Sir D. Bruce aud others. 



[June 15, 



August 16. — A growth consisting of several very small, round, white colonies appeared 

 after three days. A stained preparation from one of these showed that they were 

 composed of organisms resembling Micrococcus melittnsis. Sub-cultures made. 



September 29. — The growth from two agar tubes was made into an emulsion with salt 

 solution, and an agglutination test made with serum from a rabbit immunised against 

 Micrococcus melitensis, Malta strain. 



The result was that the organism from the goats agglutinated completely in a dilution 

 of 1 in 100, and the proof was complete that the Ankole goats are liable to contract 

 Malta fever, and to act as a reservoir of the virus. 



Conclusions, 



1. " Muhinyo " is Malta fever. 



2. " Muhinyo " is conveyed from the goat to man by the drinking of goats' 

 milk. 



Tlie Natural Food of-Glossina ixilpalis. 



By Colonel Sir David Bruce, C.B., F.R.S., Army Medical Service ; Captains 

 A. E. Hamekton, D.S.O., and H. E. Bateman, Eoyal Army Medical 

 Corps ; and Captain F. P. Mackie, Indian Medical Service. (Sleeping 

 Sickness Commission of the Koyal Society, Uganda, 1908-10.) 



(Received June 15, — Read June 30, 1910.) 



As a good deal of interest, and it may be importance, attaches to the food 

 of the tsetse fly — the carrier of Sleeping Sickness — the following notes are 

 placed on record : — 



In the laboratory it was found that tlie flies fed with far more avidity 

 on birds than on monkeys, while they could liardly be tempted to ieed on 

 young crocodiles, iguanas, or lizards. It was very marked, this preference of 

 theirs for l)ir(ls; the moment a cliicken was placed against the netting of 

 the cage, they instantly swarmed on it in hundreds. From this it was 

 thought probable that tlie natural food of the flies would prove to bo l)irds' 

 blood, ljut the two following experiments do not bear this out to any great 

 oxtent : — 



The flrst experiment was carried out in the laboratory at Mpumu, and 

 extended over several months. Flies which had been caught on the Lake- 

 shore and which had been kept over from the previous day, and sometimes 

 longer, were dissected, and each portion of the alimentary canal examined 

 in the fi (!.sli state under a low power. The various organs of the ily were then 



