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Ayyab (T. V. Ramakrishna). Notes on the Life-History and Habits of 

 the Eye-fly, Siphonella funicola, de Meij. — Madras Agric. Dept. 

 Year Book 1917, Madras, 2nd February 1917, pp. 76-83, 6 figs. 



This troublesome Oscinid fly is a sMning black insect resembling the 

 house-fly but much smaller, which at certain times in the year is a 

 veritable nuisance to man owing to its habit of hovering about the face 

 and settling at the corners of the eyes. The insect appears to have a 

 special liking for the lachrymal secretions and for perspiration ; it also 

 feeds greedily on blood, commonly settling on cuts, scratches, open sores 

 and other wounds. It frequently gets into the eyes of those engaged in 

 reading, writing, etc., especially in the case of school children, who 

 during the summer months commonly suffer from the disease known 

 as " sore eye," which is popularly attributed to eating too many 

 mangoes, but is probably caused by a germ carried by this fly. This 

 insect is also suspected to be the carrier of the Koch- Weeks bacillus, 

 which is the cause of severe conjunctivitis, and a similar fly is said to 

 cause eye disease in the Southern States of America. 



Siphonella funicola is widely distributed all over India, Ceylon and 

 Java, being found both along the sea coast and at fairly high elevations, 

 except during the cold months from November to February. 



Unfortunately all attempts to discover the natural breeding haunts 

 of this fly have so far been imsuccessful, all kinds of rotting animal and 

 vegetable matter, kitchen and stable refuse, silo pits and drains having 

 been examined without result ; effective and radical control measures 

 are therefore impossible for the present. Its pecuhar habit of swarming 

 in large numbers on slender bits of rope and string, preferably old ones, 

 and forming aerial colonies under thatched roofs affords a temporary 

 opportunity for control by trapping such colonies with a wide-mouthed 

 jar, or burning them with a torch in the early morning or late evening. 

 Household sanitation and personal cleanliness and the use of repellents, 

 such as eucalyptus oil rubbed on the coat coUar, are also measures 

 affording temporary relief. 



The life-history worked out from eggs laid on cow-dung by flies 

 in captivity shows that it occupies from 16-20 days, and the adults, 

 fed on sugar, have lived from 10-12 days. All attempts to obtain 

 oviposition on other substances such as mango fruits, horse-dung, 

 rotting fibrous matter from trunks of palmyra palms, vegetable 

 mould, soil from gutters near kitchens, etc., have been unsuccessful, 

 although other members of the family Oscinidae are known to breed 

 on plant tissue in different countries, or as scavengers in decaying 

 vegetable matter, one species, Oscinis theae, being recorded as a 

 leaf-miner of tea in India. 



Points that require further investigation are : — The number of broods 

 of S. funicola in the year ; whether the fly has a resting or hibernating 

 period and, if so, in what stage ; the number of eggs laid by one fly ; 

 the natural enemies, if any, of this insect ; and its natural breeding 

 haunts and chemotropic characters. 



Nelson (E. W.). The Rat Pest. — National Geographic Mag., Washitig- 

 ton, B.C., xxxii, no. 1, July 1917, pp. 1-23. [Received 14th 

 November 1917.] 

 In this popular and profusely illustrated article the author urges 



that rats should not be tolerated at a time when the entire world is in 



