PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
། ། ། །། mmimmim.C.O. 885
23 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
44653
SIR,
(No. 466.)
60
No. 63.
FIJI.
THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
(Received 29 December, 1913.)
„[Answered by No. 68.]
Government House, Suva, Fiji, 17th November, 1913.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch, No. 285, of the 23rd August last,* requesting that the Imperial Bureau of Entomology may be supplied with all the information available respecting the distribution in Fiji of mosquitoes, and, in particular, those of the stegomyia species, and that collections of mosquitoes may be sent to the Director of the Bureau at the British Museum, Cromwell Road, London.
2. I enclose, for your information, copies of reports by Mr. Jepson, the Govern- ment Entomologist, and by Dr. Lynch, the Chief Medical Officer. A copy of Mr. Jepson's report, and a collection of mosquitoes will be sent, as requested, to the Director of the Bureau of Entomology, and such action as is possible will be taken to give effect to the recommendations made in Dr. Lynch's report.
have, &c.,
Enclosure 1 in No. 63.
BICKHAM ESCOTT,
Governor.
MEMORANDUM by Government Entomologist ON THE MOSQUITOES OF FIJI.
This is a matter which has been commonly discussed here during the last three or four years, and there are many who fear that the completion of the Panama Canal, and the possible subsequent calling of vessels at Suva, may threaten the excellent state of health at present enjoyed by these Islands.
2. It seems unlikely that yellow fever should reach Fiji through the agency of infected mosquitoes carried alive by an incoming vessel, but I imagine the chief source of danger to lie in the arrival here of persons harbouring in their blood the germs of the disease which could be transmitted from these infected subjects to healthy individuals by the agency of mosquitoes.
3. The incubation period of yellow fever, occupying a shorter period than would a voyage from Panama to Fiji, would allow of severe cases becoming recognisable en route.
4. I believe that a large percentage of the total cases of yellow fever takes a mild form, lasting from two to three days, and rarely extending beyond the primary stages.
It is said that often such cases, on account of their mildness, escape the notice of medical men, and yet at the same time may remain sources of infection from which a serious epidemic might arise. It appears, therefore, that these are the cases which present the greatest danger as far as we, in Fiji, are concerned.
5. As will be seen from the following list we have two species of stegomyia in Fiji, namely, S. fasciata and S. pseudoscutellaris. They are both extremely common in Suva, and are familiar to everyone here on account of their characteristic white markings and by reason of the persistence and viciousness which they display in their thirst for blood.
6. There are only seven species of mosquitoes which I can find recorded from Fiji-
11
Monograph of Stegomyia fasciata. (Febricus.) Theobald, F. V. (1903).
the Culicidae of the World." Vol. III., page 141. Stegomyia pseudoscutellaris. (Theobald.) Theobald, F. V. (1910). The 'The Entomologist," Culicidae of Fiji, including two new species. June, pp.
156-158.
"
61
Culex jepsoni. (Theobald.) Theobald, F. V. (1910). The Culicidæ of Fiji,
including two new species." The Entomologist," June, pp. 158-159.
Monograph of the Culex nocturnus. (Theobald.) Theobald, F. V. (1903).
Culicidae of the World." Vol. III., pp. 159-160. Culex fatigans. (Wiedemann.) Theobald, F. V. (1901).
Vol. III., the Culicidæ of the World."
page Finlaya poicilia. (Theobald.) Bahr., P. H. (1912).
154.
Monograph of
Filariasis and
Elephantiasis in Fiji. Supplement No. 1 of the "Journal of the London School of Tropical Medicine," page 18.
Phoniomyia (prox nitidiventer).
(Giles.) Bahr., P. H. (1912). Filariasis and Elephantiasis in Fiji. Supplement No. 1 of the " Journal of the London School of Tropical Medicine," page 18.
7. Although Stegomyia scutellaris (Walker) was recorded from Fiji by Mr. F. V. Theobald in his "Monograph of the Culicide of the World," 1903, Volume III., Mr. Theobald page 144, it appears that there is some doubt about this species. stated that the specimens from which the original record was made were very much rubbed, and at the time, although he considered them to be S. scutellaris, he noticed that there were three more or less parallel white-scaled lines on the side of the thorax. 8. The general appearance of S. scutellaris and S. pseudoscutellaris is very similar, but they are readily distinguished by the former possessing on the side of the thorax white puncta, while the latter has, in the same place, two parallel white lines, themselves parallel with a thin white line above the pleura. A further difference is the basally white-banded abdomen and longer wings of the former. Mr. F. V. Theobald is not absolutely certain now that the specimens he originally recorded from Fiji as S. scutellaris may not have been S. pseudoscutellaris. One cannot, therefore, definitely state at present whether S. scutellaris occurs in Fiji or not. Of the many specimens of stegomyia which have been examined here, this species has never been observed.
9. Three species, referred to in my Report on Entomology, 1911, page 22, and believed at the time to be Taeniorhynchus fasciolatus, Mansonia sp., and Desvoide sp., were later found to be Finlaya poicilia (Theobald), and Phoniomyia (prox. nitidi- venter) (Giles).
10. I shall be pleased to make a collection of mosquitoes to be forwarded to the Director of the Imperial Bureau of Entomology.
11. I have appended to the above list of mosquitoes references to the Journal, which recorded the presence of each species in Fiji, which I hope will be to some value. Mr. F. V. Theobald will be able to give some useful information regarding
12.
the Fiji species of mosquitoes as he has described most of them.
13. I shall be pleased to give any further information which may be desired should it be in my power to do so.
FRANK P. JEPSON,
Government Entomologist.
10th October, 1913.
Enclosure 2 in No. 63.
MEMORANDUM BY THE CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, ON THE SUBJECT OF THE POSSIBLE DANGER OF THE INTRODUCTION OF YELLOW FEVER INTO FIJI BY Vessels callinG At SUVA FROM PANAMA ON THE OPENING of the PANAMA CANAL. Attached to this memorandum is a note* by the Government Entomologist, on the mosquitoes present in Fiji.
2.
In the event of vessels from Panama calling at Fiji en route, there can be
no doubt that the Colony will run the risk of infection, because of the wide prevalence of the Stegomyia fasciata in all parts of the Colony. This mosquito is, the Govern- ment Entomologist shows, extremely common in Suva, and all over Fiji, and a collection will be sent, as desired by Mr. Jepson, to the Bureau at South Kensington. 3. It appears likely that in Fiji, the question will have to be treated by quaran- tine measures rigidly enforced on the Quarantine Island, some eight (8) miles from Suva, and practically free of mosquitoes of any kind, since it has been cleared for a quarantine station; but, on the other hand, the Island of Nukulau, the Immigration Depôt, which is bush covered, swarms with mosquitoes.
• Enclosure 1.
• No. 27.