Insecta. 273 



dry weather both cT and $ congregate round pools etc. and are found drinking 

 at wet sand and mud: some of the more slender Tahamis seem able to drink by 

 flighting on the surface of the water and thrusting the proboscis through the 

 surface-film. Many species are attracted by honey, and by the honey-dew of 

 Coccidae and Aphidae, and at certain times large numbers fz-equent flowers: 

 in all these cases c? are attracted in greater numbers than $: the flowers of 

 many flowering shrubs are especially attractive toPangoniinae. In the case 

 of all Tabanidae, when ^ are present in numbers, both sexes are usually found 

 drinking or feeding on sweet substances, and the $ have almost no desire for 

 vertebrate blood: they appear to desife this latter food only during a portion 

 of their existence, probably during the period subsequent to pairing and the 

 death of the males, and prior to oviposition. Tabanidae are preyed on by Dip- 

 tera and Hymenoptera: 8 er 9 spp. ofAsilidae were caught preying on various 

 spp. of Haematopota and Tahamis. The principal Hymenopterous enemies belong 

 to the genus Benibcx, which most usually seem to attack the Tabanids when the 

 latter are themselves attacking domestic animals. Many species of Tabanidae 

 are discussed in detail, and a number are figured in the two Plates. 



Besides Tabanidae, flies of the following f amilies are dealt with: Chirono- 

 midae, Culicidae, Simuliidae, Psychodidae, Muscidae and Hippoboscidae. The 

 7 spp. of Glossina known from Tropical East Africa are discussed in consi- 

 derable detail on pp. 299 — 309. On p. 312 is given a Hst of native names, in 

 a number of languages, for various blood-sucking arthropods. Separate local lists 

 of the blood-sucking Arthropoda known from N. Rhodesia, Nyasaland, German 

 East Africa, Zanzibar, British East Africa and Uganda, respectively, are added 

 on pp. 313 — 323. The two plates, one of which is coloured, give figures of a 

 number of Tabanidae. H. Scott (Cambridge). 



893) Edwards, F. W., A key for determining the African Species of Anopheles 

 (sensu lato). In: Bull. Ent. Research, Bd. IJI, Heft 3, S. 241—250, 1912. 



894) NicliollSjL. (SaintLucia, Govt.Bacteriologist), Some observations on the 

 bionomics and breeding-places of Anopheles in Saint Lucia, British 

 Westlndies. In: Bull. Ent. Research, Bd. III, Heft 3, S.251— 267, Taf. VI— IX. 



This paper deals only with 2 closely-allied species, AnoplieUs [Nyssorhynchus) 

 argyrotarsis and A. (AT.) alblmanus, both well-known malaria carriers. The paper 

 is divided into sections. (I) describes briefly the natural features of Saint Lucia. 

 (II) deals with the developmental stages of the 2 species: the writer states that 

 there is a bewildering variety of small individual variations of colour, markings, 

 relative size, hairs etc., of Anopheline larvae of the same species: the relative 

 proportions of parts of the body etc., vary in larvae of different ages. The larvae 

 suffer from a number of diseases of micro-organisms, becoming grown over with 

 algae, Vorticellae etc.: their characters are then altered, and the majority so attacked 

 do not survive. (III) Length of life-cycle: the egg-stage has been found to 

 vary from 1 % — 2 days under favourable conditions to longer under unfavourable 

 conditions: larval life lasts 11 — 14 days under favourable conditions, and in un- 

 favourable circumstances has been found to continue 31 days: the pupal stage is 

 of about 2 days duration under favourable circumstances. It has been stated that 

 the imago emerges late in the afternoon, but in the 2 species here considered, 

 as many emerge before noon as after. The larval food consists of small particles 

 of decomposing vegetable matter, minute water-plants , and occasionally living 

 larvae of other Diptera, or decomposing bodies of insects. With regard to the 

 adults, c? rarely live for a week, but § may exist as long as six weeks. 



Zentralblatt f. Zoologie, aUgem. u. experim. Biologie. Bd. 2.. 18 



