136 Malaria in Ceylon 
growing and cocoanut bearing districts scattered throughout the low 
country. 
In the jungles of the North-Central and Eastern Provinces malaria 
has been held responsible for the present depopulation of certain districts 
and the abandonment of the great cities of Anurhadhapura and Polon- 
nurrua, formerly the seats of the ancient Sinhalese kings, and where in 
former times hundreds of gigantic tanks, since fallen into disrepair, 
were constructed, and water for the irrigation of the rice fields stored. 
Latterly many of these have been restored by the Government, 
but so far, however, probably on account of the prevalence of the 
endemic malaria, it has been found difficult to induce any natives to 
take up the cultivation of the adjacent rice-fields. 
I have studied malaria in detail in three areas in Ceylon, namely, 
Kurunegala in the North-Western, Badulla in Uva, and Tangalla in 
the Southern Provinces. On the west coast it has been studied in detail 
by Major S. P. James at Talaimannar, the Ceylon terminus of the new 
railway to India. 
The variety of malaria parasite found. 
Blood films were taken from 539 natives, a quarter of an hour being 
allotted to the examination of each slide. The parasite rate was 
found to be 14'4 % ; in the majority of cases the infection of malaria 
parasites was a small one, only a single gamete or ring-form being found 
in the whole film. 
The quartan parasite greatly predominated and formed 63 - 8 %, the 
benign tertian 19"3 %, and the subtertian 17 %, of the total number 
examined. Double infections were found only five times as follows : 
Tertian and quartan twice. 
Quartan and subtertian once. 
Tertian and subtertian once. 
Quartan, tertian and subtertian once. 
Crescents, or gametocytes, were found eight times out of fourteen 
subtertian infections, an abnormally high proportion when contrasted 
with the small number found by Plehn and others in this infection 
in Africa. A similar preponderance of the quartan parasite was found 
by Christophers ( Sci. Mem. Govt. India, 1912, New Series, No. 56) in 
his recent work in the Andamans, a fact he wishes to attribute to 
the proneness of the infection to relapse and to the relatively small 
number of gametocytes produced by the quartan, as compared with 
other forms of the malaria parasite. 
