81 



Macfie (J. "W. S.). Report of the Accra Laboratory for the Year 1914. 



London, 1915, 56 pp., 3 charts, 4 plates, 20 tables. [Beceived 

 27th March 1916.] 



A large part of this report has been published in other journals 

 [see this Review, Ser. B, iv, pp. 27 and 42]. The following additional 

 facts are recorded. The ticks, Amhlyomma marmoreum and Haema- 

 fhysalis leaclii, were taken on hedgehogs. Several cases of spiro- 

 chaetosis occurred among poultry in Accra in December 1914 ; no 

 ticks were found on afiected birds, but Echidnophaga gallinacea was 

 present in considerable numbers. Atoxyl appears to be valuable as a 

 prophylactic. Aponomma laeve and A. marmoreum were found on 

 snakes, and the latter also occurred on lizards. Some of the snakes, 

 lizards, and toads examined showed the presence of Haemogregarines. 

 During the year, 334 consignments of mosquito larvae from Accra and 

 Christiansborg were received, and the following species identified : — 

 Stegomyia fasciata, Culexfatigans, C. decens, G. tigripes, and Anopheles 

 costalis. NaphthaUne suspended above water was shown to have 

 little value as a larvicide, but in the proportion of 1 to 2,856 killed 

 adults emerging from the pupae within 24 hours. It would probably 

 prevent adults from sheltering and ovipositing in wells and cisterns. 

 Naphthaline is fairly soluble in kerosene and the solution might be 

 used in some situations which cannot be effectively screened and where 

 it is impossible or inadvisable to remove the water entirely. Under 

 the temperature conditions prevailing at Accra, however, kerosene 

 used alone in enclosed spaces was found to give off vapour sufficient 

 to kill larvae and adults. 



The following is a list of insects collected at Accra by the author :— 

 Coleoptera. Tenebrionidae : Alphitohius sp. from a swallow's 

 nest. Diptera. Culicidae : S. fasciata, F. ; C. fatigans, Wied. ; 

 Ochleroiatus punctothoracis, Theo. ; 0. irritans, Theo. Tabanidae : 

 Tahanus bigutlatus croceus, Sure. ; T. ditaeniatus, Macq. Muscidae : 

 Glossina palpalis, E,. D. ; Cordylobia anthropophaga, Grunb., from a 

 cat. Siphonaptera. Pulicidae : Xenopsylla aequisetosa. End., 

 from Cricetomys gambianus (giant pouched rat). Orthoptera. 

 Hemimeridae : Hemimerus talpoides. Walk., from C. gambianus. 



JoBBiNS-PoiMERoy (A. W.). Notcs on Five North American Buffalo 

 Gnats of the Genus Simidium. — TJ . S. Dept. Agric, Washing- 

 ton, D.C., Bull. no. 329, 6th March 1916, 48 pp., 15 figs., 5 plates. 



Buffalo gnats are present in considerable numbers in the Mississippi 

 Valley and in many other portions of the Southern States. Adults in 

 copula have been found flying near the stream from which they were 

 emerging, while females are known to travel long distances in search 

 of food. Adult females feed almost entirely on mammahan blood ; 

 they have also been recorded as attacking Lepidopterous larvae and 

 pupae. Simulium venustum was found from early spring to late 

 autumn in the ears of horses and mules, but seldom on man or cattle ; 

 the maximum numbers occurred near the beginning and end of this 

 period. The method of oviposition of the various species differs 

 according to the habitat. In South Carohna, two distinct groups 

 can be recognised. The first, represented by Simulium piciipes, is 

 restricted to rivers with rocky beds and containing such obstructions 



