66 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Feb., '06 



habitation. They were flying about with a loud buzzing 

 noise, settling from time to time on trees, stumps, etc. On 

 watching them I saw several couples in copula. I left the 

 spot after sundown and, although dusk was coming on, the 

 flies were still active. The female when ready to oviposit 

 usually enters a native hut and settles on the wall or thatch 

 generally remaining motionless for some time. If undisturbed 

 she alights on the mud floor and begins scratching with her 

 first pair of legs in the dust, preferably in a dark corner. She 

 then lays her eggs in the dust, afterwards scratching again in 

 the same manner as if to cover them. I was fortunate to wit- 

 ness this process on one occasion. I was unable to ascertain 

 the number of the eggs at this time as it was dusk, and, with 

 no means of procuring a light, the eggs could not be seen in 

 the light colored dirt rich in kaolin, which is generally used to 

 plaster walls and floors. The average number of eggs in a 

 series of gravid females dissected was 54. 



In my experiments a number of pregnant females were 

 placed in a gauze cage containing a handful of sand which had 

 been sterilized by red heat. In three days there appeared very 

 small larvae which were identical with the "Inyo" or biting 

 maggot found by me in native kraals and often brought by boys 

 collecting for me. I examined the sand with a lens on the 

 first and second days of the experiment but, I am sorry to 

 say, overlooked the eggs. Still I am confident the fly is not 

 viviparous, as the moving larvae would have immediately 

 caught my eye. Flies dissected, too, even when gestation was 

 complete, always contained ova only. 



In natural circumstances the larvae are most abundant under 

 mats where children who urinate during sleep have lain, show- 

 ing that either the imagines or larvae (or both) seek such 

 places as promising sooner or later the presence of suitable 

 blood-producing hosts. The larvae are voracious blood-suckers 

 and their bite is severe. One bred out from my captive flies, 

 and which I allowed to bite my arm in several places, pro- 

 duced wheals which were the seat of marked burning and 

 itching which did not entirely disappear for four days. The 

 suggestions as to the possibility of the larvae being the carrier 



