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in those colonies which bite men or animals could be made and sent to the Natural History Museum, where Professor Ray Lankester undertook to have them examined and classified. A circular despatch to that effect was written to the Crown Colonies on the 6th of December, 1898, a copy of it being sent to the self-governing colonies on the 15th of that month; and on the 8th of September, 1900, a further circular was sent enclosing copies of a preliminary report received from the trustees of the Museum on the collections which had been received. The specimens so collected have enabled the Trustees of the British Museum to publish, under the editorship of Mr. Theobald, a monograph on the Culicidae, the great scientific and practical value of which has been shown by the first edition being almost immediately exhausted.

23. In June, 1899, Drs. Stephens and Christophers telegraphed to the Royal Society, urging that their stay in Central Africa should not be prolonged beyond the following August, owing to the scarcity of cases of the kind required for study, and the insufficiency of the hospital accommodation. They were, after some correspondence, authorised to leave, with a view to proceeding to West Africa. They left British Central Africa accordingly on the 20th of September, 1899; and, after returning to this country, sailed for Sierra Leone on the 9th of December, 1899, subsequently visiting the Gold Coast and Lagos. They returned to this country in November, 1900; and in April, 1901, as it had been decided to prolong the term of their engagement, Dr. Christophers left for India, where Dr. Stephens had already gone, in order to continue the investigation for one more year. Dr. Stephens was obliged through ill-health to return to this country before the year's work was fully completed, but Dr. Christophers' services were retained in India for an additional six months, and his engagement was not concluded until last autumn.

24. Dr. Daniels, having dissented from his colleagues as to the desirability of leaving British Central Africa, which he considered an eminently suitable field for enquiry, was authorized to remain there when they proceeded to West Africa. He continued his work in these districts until July, 1900, when, on account of an attack of blackwater fever he was compelled to return to England. On his return to England his work in connexion with the malaria commission ceased, the two years which had been originally contemplated in the case of the Commission having nearly expired. He took up the position of medical superintendent of the London School of Tropical Medicine, and in August, 1901, sailed for Sierra Leone to join a malaria investigation Commission under Major Ross which had been sent out by the Liverpool School.

29 August,

25. The enquirers communicated the results of their work to the Malaria Committee 19 July, in a series of reports which were published by the Royal Society. In the circular despatches and noted in the margin printed copies of these reports were sent to the Colonies. A general 1900. summary by Drs. Stephens and Christophers of their work written in less technical language than are the reports themselves, together with a covering report upon it by the Malaria 16 May, Committee forms an enclosure to this despatch.*

26. While these gentlemen were at work in the investigation of malaria in Africa, it was suggested by Dr. Manson in January, 1900, that, in view of the results which Italian medical experts had already achieved in the way of preventing malaria by the use of mos- quito netting, the experiment should be tried of erecting in some notoriously malarious spot in the Roman Campagna a hut specially designed to exclude mosquitoes, and that two observers, sent out from this country, should live in the hut during the night throughout the malarious season, the activity of the malaria-bearing mosquito being mainly confined to the night-time. He asked for a sum of £500 from Government funds to cover the cost of the experiment, excluding the expenses of one of the two observers, who would be sent by the London School of Tropical Medicine. This sum was allowed from the funds at the disposal of the Malaria Committee and was subsequently supplemented by a further sum of £150; a mosquito-proof hut was constructed under Dr. Manson's directions and sent out to Italy in May, 1900; and the two observers, Dr. Sambon and Dr. Low, started in the same month for Rome where they received every assistance from the Italian authorities. They remained at the hut in good health throughout the malarious season, sending periodical reports, and returned at its close, having established beyond dispute that protection against mosquitoes carries with it immunity from malaria. Mosquitoes which were sent to England from the same district during their sojourn, were found to convey malaria to healthy subjects in this country.

* Enclosure No. 2, page 364.

25 January,

and

1901.

11 April, 1903.