120 THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 
. NOTES AND COMMENTS, 
Martin Jacopy.—On December 24, 1907, there passed away, 
at West Hampstead,.London, Martin Jacoby, the well-known 
Coleopterist. The deceased naturalisst was a native of Atona, 
near Hamburg. When about 20 years of age he went to 
Manchester, where he joined Sir Chas. Halle’s orchestra as a 
violinist. Subsequently he went to London, and joined the 
orchestra of the Royal Italian Opera. Whilst holding this 
‘position he formed a connection as a teacher of his favourite 
instrument, the violin, and made London his home. ‘To 
naturalists he is better known as a Coleopterist, his principal 
writings dealing with the Phytophaga, species of which he 
has described from many parts of the Globe. Just a few days 
prior to his death, he read and marked for press in the Feb- 
ruary number of The Entomologist, a paper—his last—‘ Des- 
criptions of Two New Genera and Species of Australian 
Eumolpini (Coleoptera Phytophaga).” The deceased unat- 
uralist was about 66 years of age at the time of his death. 
Mosqurrozs AND Marariat Fryer.—Only a comparatively 
short time has elapsed since the so-called mosquito theory of 
disease was first brought forward, and even now many persons 
affect to believe that there is no connection between mosquitoes 
and the diseases which they are said to carry. That this 
relation exists has been abundantly proved, and it is of interest 
to note that centuries ago the medical men of India 
recognised such a relation between mosquitoes and at least one 
disease—malarial fever. In a paper read by Sir Henry Blake, 
Governor of Ceylon, before the Ceylon Branch of the British 
Medical Association, the following remarks occur :—‘ In the 
course of inquiries into the cause of an epidemic of malarial 
fever in Colombo ord I received a report from the 
Sinhalese Medical Association, in which it was mentioned 
incidentally, that according to the ancient Hindu authorities 
on medicine, the chief causes of the disease are impure air and 
water, and the existence of mosquitoes. I requested more 
precise information, showing that mosquitoes were associated 
with the causation of malarial fever, and in reply I received 
extracts from Ancient Indian works. One of these works, 
compiled from one of the lost Vedas or Hindoo Scriptures, 
must be at least 1,400 years old, since it is mentioned in 
writings of the sixth century. The extracts in question 
refer to twelve kinds of mosquitoes as causing life-destroying 
diseases: —‘ Their bite,’ it is said, ‘is most painful, and 
causes disease, accompanied by fever, pain of limbs, vomiting, 
diarrhoea, thirst, giddiness, shivering, burning sensations, etc.’ ” 
Other mosquitoes are also referred to, whose bite causes 
inconvenience such as swelling, itching, etc. Sir Henry Blake, 
in order to satisfy himself on the point, invited five Sanscrit 
scholars of acknowledged authority, to investigate the subject. 
