P. H. Baiir 
129 
I wish to gratefully acknowledge this generous assistance on the 
part of the Government authorities. 
In the technique adopted of making and examining the blood films, 
I followed the method laid down by Manson and utilized by me in 
my previous work on the same subject. After dehaemoglobinization, 
the films were stained by haematoxylin, carbol fuchsin, and in a variety 
of other ways. 
A total of 1824 blood specimens were taken from 1308 Sinhalese 
and Tamil inhabitants of Ceylon, and in 396 instances the blood was 
examined both by day and by night. These blood specimens were 
procured from 28 different towns ; in many of which the situation 
and climatic conditions varied widely in character. In the majority 
of these towns 50 inhabitants were selected as a sample of the com¬ 
munity, though in such heavily infected areas as Galle and Matara a 
hundred or more, mostly inmates of gaols and hospitals, were procurable. 
On account of the innate native modesty which prevented the women 
coming forward to have their blood examined, it was difficult to 
maintain an equal proportion of both sexes, and consequently the 
males outnumbered the females by three to one. 
Microfilariae were found in the blood in 43 people, or 2'3 %. 
Periodicity. These microfilariae exhibited marked nocturnal periodi¬ 
city ; in one case only were they found sparingly (one in a blood smear) 
during the daytime. 
Morphology . Though no adult worms were procured, yet from their 
nocturnal periodicity and the minute morphology of the embryos there 
could be little doubt of the identity of the Ceylon filaria worm wdth 
Filaria hancrofti. 
Age and Sex. 4T % of the males were found infected against 
08 % of the females, a proportion which bears out the generally 
accepted liability of the former sex to filariasis. The youngest male 
harbouring microfilariae was a boy of eight years old, the youngest 
female a young woman of twenty-five. 
Filarial Diseases. Forty-seven cases of elephantiasis were seen and 
examined; only two of these, or 4‘2 %, harboured microfilariae in their 
blood. The legs were most commonly affected, but in comparison with 
the former an elephantoid disease of the upper extremities was rare. 
Of the total number of cases seen, elephantiasis of the arms was noted 
twice, of both arms and legs four times, of one leg 28 times, and of 
both legs 13 times. The males were most commonly affected with 
elephantiasis, 39 cases occurred in men, only eight in women. The 
