CO885-(23-24) — Page 35

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 885

23 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

64

1

herewith, which it is hoped will afford the British Ambassador the information necessary to secure the data desired by his Government.

The Honourable

The Secretary of State.

SIR,

Very respectfully,

LINDLEY M. GARRISON,

Secretary of War.

Isthmian Canal Commission, Canal Zone, Ancon,

November 1, 1913. WITH return herewith of letters from the Secretary of War, the Acting Secretary of State, the British Ambassador to the United States, and the British Foreign Office, I have the honour to state that extensive detailed data regarding the life history and habits of American mosquitoes, including the stegomyia, have been published in the recent work of Howard, Dyar, and Knab, entitled" The Mosquitoes of North and Central America and the West Indies," published by the Carnegie Institute of Washington, D.C., the first and second volumes of which are already in print, and two other volumes will probably be completed at an early date.

On page 293 of Volume I. reference is made to the present localities where Aedes calopus (Stegomyia fasciata) are known to exist.

It is possible that Dr. L. O. Howard, Chief of the Bureau of Entomology, Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C., can supply the Imperial Bureau of Entomology with such collections of mosquitoes as they may desire, and that he may also be able to furnish them with some data relative to the foreign countries mentioned in this correspondence.

No doubt the report of the Reed-Carroll Board of the result of its investigations in Cuba is in the hands of the British authorities.

There were no experiments made here in 1904 and 1905 bearing upon the transmission of yellow fever through the bite of the mosquitoes, and no case of the disease, except an isolated one in May or June of 1906, has occurred on the Isthmus since December, 1905, before our laboratory was equipped for conducting investi- gation.

Chairman,

183

Culebra, Canal Zone.

No. 85. AUSTRALIA.

Chief Sanitary Office.

THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 3 January, 1914.)

Governor-General's Office, Melbourne, 2nd December, 1913.

(No. 284.) SIR,

IN continuation of my despatch, dated the 11th instant, No. 265,* in reply to your despatch, dated 23rd August last, No. 487,† intimating that the Imperial Bureau of Entomology was desirous of obtaining information as to the distribution of mosquitoes in Papua, I now have the honour to forward, herewith, copy of an article by Frank H. Taylor, F.E.S., of the Australian Institute of Tropical Medicine, on the subject.

I have, &c.,

DENMAN,

• No. 60.

Governor-General.

† No. 27.

65

Enclosure in No. 65.

THE DISTRIBUTION OF Stegomyia fasciata, FABR., AND S. Scutellaris, WALKER, IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW GUINEA, BY FRANK H. TAYLOR F.E.S. (from the Australian Institute of Tropical Medicine).

Only a few disconnected observations regarding the distribution of mosquitoes in Australia have been recorded. No organised mosquito survey has yet been attempted, hence our knowledge of the distribution of Stegomyia fasciata is very limited.

Skuse (1) described it, under the name Culex bancrofti, from specimens sent to him by Drs. J. and T. L. Bancroft, which were taken in Brisbane.

Theobald (2) recorded it from Queensland and Victoria without giving definite localities, in the former case from specimens sent by Dr. T. L. Bancroft, in the latter the specimens were sent by Mr. C. French. He also recorded it from New Guinea generally, while specimens were taken by Dr. Breinl at Samarai, in the Eastern Division, Port Moresby, in the Central Division, and the Lakekamu Gold Fields (Dr. Giblin) in the Gulf Division.

Taylor (3) recorded it from Port Darwin, Northern Territory of Australia, where it was found to be common by Drs. Breinl and C. L. Strangman. Dr. Breinl was unable to find it at the Pine Creek Settlement in 1911, although local conditions were suitable.

Summers (4) also records it from Port Darwin on specimens presented to the London School of Tropical Medicine by Dr. C. L. Strangman.

Taylor (5) found it to be a prevalent species at Cooktown and Somerset, North Queensland, and Thursday, Darnley, Murray, Stephens, Yorke, Yam, and Mulgrave Islands, in the Torres Straits, North Queensland.

The absence of Stegomyia fasciata from Saibai and Boigu Islands, of the same group, can only be attributed to the fact that the natives bring their daily water supply from wells which are situated some considerable distance from the villages. Advantage of a short stay on Thursday Island during May, 1912, was taken to make a mosquito survey of the Japanese quarter, which contained some 2,000 souls, where it was found that Stegomyia fasciata was breeding in very considerable numbers in all the water tanks and other collections of water. It may be reasonably surmised from this finding that the white settlement and remaining Asiatic quarters are similarly infected.

Elkington (6) says: "The adaptability of Stegomyia fasciata in finding new breeding-places is illustrated by the discovery of larvæ in fire-sprinkler tanks 120 feet above street level. Two years ago I found the same species breeding in the sump-pit of a mine at Charters Towers, over 2,000 feet below the surface, and biting vigorously in the electrically-liť plat."

We have, besides the above records, collected Stegomyia fasciata at Cairns, Townville, Ching Do (situated 30 miles from Townsville, in the Houghton River District, where it has been recently introduced), and Brisbane.

Specimens collected by Wild at Cunnamulla, a town in Southern Central Queens-

land, are contained in the Queensland Museum collections.

Dr. Hamilton Kenny sent us a small collection of mosquitoes from Gayndah

amongst which specimens of Stegomyia fasciata were noted.

Dr. T. L. Bancroft recently informed us in litt. that it was a very common species

at Eidsvold, a town in the Burnet River District.

We have also received numerous specimens of Stegomyia fasciata from Inspector C. M. Cato, who was attached to the State Health Office at Townsville, from Ravens- wood, Proserpine, Mackay, Eton, and Merinda, where he informed us it was very

common.

Dr. J. Booth-Clarkson recently presented a collection of mosquitoes, from Ayr, to the Institute. Most of the specimens proved to be Stegomyia fasciata.

A partial mosquito survey of Townsville was conducted during the early part of this year, in conjunction with the local State Health Inspectors, when it was found that Stegomyia fasciata was present in approximately 62 per cent. of the houses inspected. This percentage is in all probability a low one, as it is most probable that in many cases the larvæ had been washed out of the tanks by their continual over- flowing, since the survey was conducted mainly during the wet season.

These results could very probably be applied to a large majority of towns in Queensland, as Townsville seems very similar in this respect to other towns which we have visited.

33318

E