U59186 
PREFACE 
The present Study from the Institute for Medical Research, Federation of Malaya, is 
intended to be the first of a series which will gather together information relating to various 
groups of external and internal parasites of man and animals in the Malaysian region. Instead 
of being scattered among different journals, descriptions of the extensive collections and 
investigations made in Malaya will thus be available in one series of publications. 
Experience has repeatedly shown that every attempt to advance our understanding of 
the arthropod-borne endemic infections has exposed a considerable and lamentable lack of 
knowledge of local species of potential vectors and their relationships with animal hosts. It 
is therefore important to investigate the ectoparasites on a broad basis, without being too 
rigidly directed by knowledge or suspicion of the ability to transmit disease. Many of the 
parasites described are already known to transmit infections, or themselves to cause disease, 
among their animal hosts ; and a number affect man secondarily. 
The material drawn upon is largely that collected by the Colonial Office (Scrub Typhus) 
Research Unit, which was supported by Colonial Development and Welfare funds until 1952, 
since when the research has been equally supported by the Colonial Office and the Government 
of the Federation of Malaya. In mid-1953, the Colonial Office Research Unit was formed 
into a new Division of the Institute — the Division of Virus Research and Medical Zoology. 
A general account of the collections is given in the first paper of this series. The study 
of certain groups of parasites has been taken over by various authorities in collaboration- 
Particular mention should be made of Robert Traub and his colleagues, who are studying the 
fleas, lice, and acarine parasites ; Edward W. Baker, collaborating over parasitoid mites; 
A. A. Sandosham, who is studying helminths ; and Glen M. Kohls, who is studying the ticks. 
The Colonial Office Unit itself has confined its purely taxonomic studies to the trombiculid 
mites (J. R. Audy) and the animal hosts (J. L. Harrison). A great deal of support has been 
given for investigations in Borneo and Malaya by the Research and Development Board, 
Office of the Surgeon- General, U.S. Army. Special acknowledgment must be made of the 
generous support and collaboration of Joseph E. Smadel and his colleagues, of the Army 
Medical Service Graduate School, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington. 
J. IV. Field 
Director 
