142 
MALARIA 
coasts of Nicaragua, Honduras and British 
Honduras. 
The islands comprising the Greater and 
Lesser Antilles of the West Indies repre¬ 
sent the summits of a submerged mountain 
chain. Hilly regions of various configura¬ 
tions occupy the interior of many of the 
islands, and coastal plains border the sea. 
Malaria throughout the West Indies is 
chiefly c'oastal in distribution, rarely reach¬ 
ing altitudes greater than 500 feet. 
It is important to note that regional 
variations in topography do not always 
conform to the general conditions cited 
above. River valleys, seepage basins and 
sometimes wide areas of flat country may 
be found ih the interior of many of the Cen¬ 
tral American countries and the West Indes. 
These local deviations from the basic physi¬ 
ography may provide abundant anopheline 
breeding places (Kumm 1940c). 
The lowlands adjacent to the Pacific 
Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico are well 
suited to the breeding of A. albimanus, 
particularly along the eastern coast where 
it is a dangerous vector in the state of Vera 
Cruz (Hoffmann 1929b). On the west coast 
A. pseudopunctipennis predominates (Hoff¬ 
mann 1928). However, A. albimanus occurs 
abundantly at least as far north as Los 
Mochis (Boyd 1940f). The highlands in the 
central plateau are also spotted with en¬ 
demic centers of malaria, particularly in 
the valley of Mexico at an altitude of ap¬ 
proximately 8000 feet. Two species of 
anophelines occur in this region, A. pseudo¬ 
punctipennis and A. maculipennis var. az- 
tecas. It is claimed that the latter is the 
chief transmitter in Xoehimilco, a short dis¬ 
tance from Mexico City (Bustamente 1939). 
This is probably the highest altitude in 
North or Central America where endemic 
malaria has been known to exist for a long 
period of time. Clinical histories have been 
obtained from this region since 1875 (Bus¬ 
tamente). In the vicinity of Mexico City 
there are numerous lake beds and extensive 
swamp lands, combined with abundant rain¬ 
fall at certain periods of the year and an 
average mean temperature of approxi¬ 
mately 60° P in the spring and summer. 
On the peninsula of Yucatan the low- 
lying coastal marshes provide abundant 
breeding places for A. albimanus (Hoff- 
