CURRENT NOTES. 233 



During the summer months there has been a most interesting 

 exhibition at the Zoological Society's Gardens, Regents Park, in con- 

 nection with the campaign against the House-fiy. The pamphlet 

 published on the subject, entitled 'ihc Ihiiixr-ih/ ( 'omiiaiii)i, is by Prof. 

 II. Maxwell Lefroy, M.A., and deals with the lite-history of Mnscu 

 ilnnieUira (the common house-fly) as well as other allied species, flies 

 as carriers of disease, with notes on specific diseases, methods of 

 destruction appliinl to hospitals, barracks, houses, etc., concluding with 

 a list of rofoi'ence books on the subject. The exhibition was particu- 

 larly strong on the practical side ; traps of all kinds, ingenious devices 

 for attacking the pests in their various stages, various methods of pro- 

 tecting foodstuffs, etc., should have afforded enquirers much suggestive 

 and useful information. In this connection we might refer our 

 readers to the horribly realistic exhibit in the Hall of the Natural 

 History Museum, South Kensington. At one end of the case a plate 

 of ham set for a meal with a glass of milk beside it, at the other end a 

 filthy midden heap with clustered flies and maggots. Other flies are 

 passing between the two while some are sipping the milk and tasting 

 the ham, plate, etc. The Museum pamphlet, The Hnuse-ji)/ as a 

 Ihtmier to Fltol^h, by E. E. Austen, tells us that, " Since this fly 

 [Miisca (l(n)ieKtica) is incapable of biting, its action as a disease-carrier 

 is contaminative .... The germs of disease are carried on the 

 exterior of its legs, wings, head or body, or, as is more usually the 

 case, in the insects crop or intestine, and may subsequently be 

 deposited on food or other substance," and goes on to urge every 

 possible precaution against contamination. 



In the Knt. Mo. Maij. for August, Mr. D. Sharp describes a new 

 species of Coleoptera, J-lcloji/ioiiis rJiamjiioni, which he has recently 

 separated from its close ally, //. strii/ifrons, in the collection of Mr. G. 

 C. Champion. The species was taken at Guildford and elsewhere, but 

 is very rare. 



The son of our colleague, Mr. H. Donisthorpe, is now convalescent 

 and will probably return shortly to his duties in France. 



Colonel Kaznakov, the Russian entomologist, whom I reported as 

 severely wounded some time ago, had recovered before the summer. 

 He convalesced at Geok-Tapa, and had returned to his military duties 

 some time before I arrived there in July. — M. B. 



In the Scottish Naturalist for August is a short but interesting 

 account of a combined excursion to the Outer Hebrides, in 1914, by a 

 party of zoologists to investigate the entomological fauna. The 

 following extract concerning Xi/nsia ^onaria may be interesting. " The 

 larvie were present in myriads on the sandhills near Barvas. They 

 were often blown into hollows in such numbers as to hide the ground. 

 They were in various stages of growth. The vegetation in these places 

 was extremely mixed, and included conspicuously Fetasitcs, wild carrot, 

 and a species of rue. It is impossible to state what plants were 

 especially attacked." 



More or less recently we have received from the Smithsonian 

 Institute, Washington, the following separata from the ProceeditKjs of 

 the United States Xatiotwl Miiseinn. " On a Collection of Javanese 

 C^rane-flies {Ti/'iilidae, Diptera) in the U.S. Nat. Museum," with nine 

 plates of figures of details ; " New Genera and Species of Gall-midges," 

 with numerous figures of details ; " Flies of the Genus Agrouiyza, 



