POSSIBILITY OF HEREDITARY TRANSMISSION OF YELLOW FEVER VIRUS BY AEDES AEGYPTI (LINN.)

Attempts to obtain passage of yellow fever virus from one generation to the next in A. aegypti were unsuccessful. Subcutaneous injections at varying intervals of a saline emulsion of 200 eggs laid by an infective lot of mosquitoes produced no reaction in six normal M. rhesus monkeys. Negative results were also obtained in five biting and two injection experiments with progeny of the same infective lot of mosquitoes in which seven normal monkeys were used. The eggs consisted of batches laid after the first, second and fourth blood-meals of the original lot; the latter feeding occurred 41 days after the initial infecting meal. The imaginal offspring represented rearings following the first, second and fifth blood-meals of the parent lot. The last feeding occurred 54 days after the first. It is concluded that under the conditions of the experiments here reported hereditary transmission of yellow fever by A. aegypti is improbable. Variations in age and in number of blood-meals of parent and offspring mosquitoes had no effect in achieving passage of the virus from one stage of the insect to another.