THE BLOOD-SUCKING DIPTERA OF PALESTINE. 119 



Jericho, in May-June 1918, Ph.papatasii was fairly common, and in the compound 

 of the Pilgrim's Hospice at 4.45 a.m. on 7.vi.l918, the author was bitten on the 

 back of the hand by a ? of this species, in broad daylight. On 2.x. 1918, when 

 -occupying a tent on a spur of Mt. Carmel, above Haifa, the writer observed a (^ 

 Ph. papatasii inside his mosquito net. 



Phlebotomus minutus, Rond., var. africanus, Newst. 



The following are the data with regard to the few specimens of this insect brought 

 back by the author : — 1 S> near Jerisheh, 5 miles N.-E. of Jaffa, 7.V.1918, in 

 author's tent, 8.0 a.m. ; 1 $, same locality and place, 15. v. 1918, 7.15 p.m. ; 2 SS> 

 2 ??, near Yahudiyeh, about 8 miles E. of Jaffa, 24.viii.1918, in E.P. tent in 

 ohve grove ; 1 c^, 6 ??, and 3 SS> 7 $?, near Jerisheh, 26.viii. and 3.ix.l918, behind 

 hanging valance of E.P. tent, in open country. 



In the Jaffa district, at any rate during the period July-September 1918, 

 Ph. minutus var. africanus was generally to be found sheltering in numbers behind 

 the hanging flaps or valances in E.P. tents, while, if the settlement of Wilhelma 

 may be taken as a criterion, it was also common in villages. On SO.vii. 1918, the writer 

 was informed by Captain (afterwards Major) W. F. Coilield, D.A.D.M.S., 54th 

 Division, that the fly was abundant in all the houses in Wilhelma, and that in the 

 room used as the informant's mess, 40 or 50 specimens were sometimes seen, or 

 were caught on the lamp, in one evening. On making a search in the office of the 

 A.D.M.S., 54th Division, in Wilhelma, the writer found two examples of what 

 appeared to be Ph. minutus var. africanus, while in the cellar-like basement of the 

 same house several more specimens of this Phlebotomus, including a female gorged 

 with blood, were seen and caught. Since every house in Wilhelma is provided 

 with a basement, the walls of which, being built of rough stone, are full of cracks 

 and crannies forming ideal breeding and sheltering places, the local abundance 

 of these " sand-flies " was scarcely surprising, while, at any rate under active service 

 conditions, effective prophylactic measures were of course impossible. 



When collecting specimens of Ph. minutus var. africanus in their favourite 

 retreats in E.P. tents, it was noticed that on first being uncovered they are often, 

 or usually, so completely motionless that they appear to be dead. On being 

 disturbed, however, they become very active, either jumping from side to side 

 after the manner of Ph. papatasii, or just as frequently taking wing at once. Placed 

 in tubes loosely plugged with cotton wool, these little flies frequently burrow into 

 the wool like minute mice, and then remain perfectly motionless. In the Jerisheh- 

 Wilhelma region, in the summer of 1918, occasional specimens of Ph. papatasii 

 were seen or caught in compan}^ with Ph. minutus var. africanus, though the latter 

 appeared to be far more numerous. Like Ph. papatasii. Ph. minutus var. africanus 

 sometimes shelters among clothing hanging on tent-poles ; thus, near Jerisheh on 

 7.ix.l918, the author took 1 cJ and 3 $$ of this variety among the folds of a Burberry 

 suspended from the pole in his tent. None of these females had blood in them, 

 and no specimens of Ph. minutus var. africanus were ever observed to bite ; in fact 

 the finding in the basement of a house at Wilhelma, as mentioned above, of a single 

 female gorged with blood was the only evidence obtained that the present variety 

 is actually a blood-sucking fly. It only remains to add that whenever a series of 

 specimens was collected, females were found to be much more numerous than males, 

 and that a single male taken by the writer, 26. ix. 1918, in his tent at Tul Keram, 

 appeared to belong to the variety under discussion. 



Writing from observations made during a five weeks' visit to southern Galilee 

 and Syria in October and November 1912, Dr. N. Annandale saj^s* : — " By far the 



* Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, ix, pp. 44-45 (1913). 



