221 



HowLETT (F. M.). The Breeding-places of Fhleholoinus. — Fio- 

 ceedings of the Third 31 rating of the General Malaria 

 Committee held at Madras, isth-2i)t.h Nov. 1912, Simla, 

 lfji;5, pp. 209-210. 



The author says that the study of the natural breeding- places 

 of sand-flies is difficult owing' to the minute size of the larvae and 

 the fact that their colour harmonises with that of damp earth. 

 So far as the district around Pusa is concerned, there is no 

 evidence that the breeding places are restricted to one particular 

 type of locality on which it might be possible to concentrate the 

 application of remedial measures. In Pusa the necessary condi- 

 tions appear to be: — (1) a moderate deg'ree of moisture, roughly 

 equivalent to that of good garden mould in England ; (2) protec- 

 tion from light; (o) the presence of nitrogenous refuse, parti- 

 cularly the debris of dead insects, decayed fungi and perhaps 

 insect and other excreta; an excess of nitrogenous matter, how- 

 ever, appears to be distasteful and unsuitable; (4) the presence 

 of bricks, stones, tiles or cement has been associated with all 

 but one of the breeding places hitherto seen. This is probably 

 due to the fact that these substances are comparatively cool and 

 often have condensed moisture on the surface, while they also 

 act as a protection from the light. The author points out the 

 frequent association of sand flies with the common wall-lizards. 

 A description of four localities from which larvae or pupae have 

 been obtained at Pusa is given. 



TowNSEND (C. H. T.). Progress in the Study of Verruga Trans- 

 mission by Bloodsuckers. — Bull. Entom. I'esearch, London, 

 iv, pt. 2, Sept. 1913, pp. 125-128, 3 pis. 



The experiments made during May and June, 1913, upon the 

 means of transmission of verruga have shown that the disease is 

 probably not transmitted by ticks or mites, and the author now 

 points out that all the known Peruvian Acari are excluded as 

 possible carriers, owing to the fact that in no case does the 

 distribution of any species coincide with that of the disease. 



Evidence seems'to point to the fact that the transmission may 

 be due to biting gnats. Collections were made of all possible 

 biting insects, which included mosquitos, species of Ceratopogon 

 and other Chironomids, Siimdivm, Tabanids, fleas, bugs, 

 Stomoxys and lice; but all these were excluded from the list of 

 possible transmitters of the disease, as they also occur outside 

 the verruga zone. 



The author spent a night at San Bartolome, a well-known 

 centre of verruga in the Pimac valley, below Verrugas canyon. 

 With two candles in front of the window in the railway station, 

 he caught over a hundred small gnats between 6.30 and 9.30 p.ui. 

 These gnats, he was told, sucked blood and w^ere called " titira " 

 by the natives. He was informed, however, that the true 

 " titira " had white wings and breeds in the hills. This at once 

 suggested Phlebotomus. The species captured were chiefly 



CeR ATOPOGONINAE . 



(32720—2.) Wt. Pll— 12. 2000. 12/13. D & S. 



