96 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



BOOK NOTICE. 



Flies in Relation to Disease: Blood-sucking Flies. By Edward 

 Hindle, B.A., Ph.D. Cambridge University Press, 1914. Price 

 12s. 6d. net. 



The Syndics of the Cambridge University Press are to be congratu- 

 lated upon the results of their enterprise in issuing to the public, under 

 the general heading of "Public Health Series," a number of volumes 

 dealing with subjects of the utmost practical importance. Not the 

 least valuable of these are the two volumes on Flies, one of which 

 it was our pleasure to notice some little time ago, while the other, 

 dealing with those species which are capable of sucking blood by means 

 of a piercing proboscis, now lies before us. Dr Hindle's work is a 

 masterly summary of what is now known on the subject, thoroughly 

 up to date, and treated in a manner worthy of the highest praise. 

 Mosquitoes and their connection with malaria, yellow fever, filariasis, 

 and other less familiar diseases, form the subject of six chapters, which 

 include some extremely helpful classificatory tables whose purpose it is 

 to assist the student to determine the species of Anopheles and 

 Stegoviyia — the genera mainly concerned in the transmission of such 

 diseases. Later chapters deal with various Tabanidas (Breeze-flies or 

 Gad-flies), which are of less importance ; then follows a well-written 

 account of the genus Glossitia., with its several species, all of which are 

 intimately associated with trypanosomes, fly-disease, and sleeping-sick- 

 ness. Lastly, several blood-sucking Muscidas (e.g., Stomoxys and 

 Lyperosia), and some of the Hippoboscida; receive adequate treatment. 

 The introductory chapters, dealing with the structure and classification 

 of flies, should be extremely helpful to the student, while those sections 

 of the book which are devoted to the life-cycles of the insects are of 

 much interest and no little importance, for it is upon an accurate 

 knowledge of this branch of the subject that the success of any prophy- 

 lactic measures must largely depend. The book is well printed and 

 the illustrations excellent. The misprints are few, and those we have 

 noticed may be mentioned, in case a second edition should oflTer an 

 opportunity for correction. On p. 15 the scutellum is ascribed to the 

 metathorax instead of the mesothorax ; p. 20, legend to fig. 6, siigmen 

 should be stigma (twice) ; p. 35, line 6, lanceolate is wrongly spelled ; 

 p. 151, line 12 from foot, Cypri?todontidiv, also wrongly spelled ; p. 167, 

 line 19 from foot, fe7nurs should h^ femora. 



A notice of the new B.O.U. "List of British Birds," now in type, is held over 

 till next month through want of space. 



