SPECIES OF THE GENUS MUSCA, LINNAEUS. 421 



10. Musca spmohumera, Awati. 



The female of this larviparous species has been fully described by Awati. 

 Mr. Senior-White recently collected a large number on cattle at Pusa and noted 

 that it is haematophagous in habit. He also observe?! that it deposited one larva 

 at a time, thus confirming Awati 's observations ; the puparium is very like that of 

 Mifsca pattoni, and is of a dirty white colour. 



I have examined this collection, which also contains the male, and compared 

 both sexes with those of M. paitoni and with the types of M. niesopotamiensis, Patton. 

 Though M. spinoliitineni superficially resembles M . pattoni, they are quite distinct, 

 the one being oviparous and the other larviparous. Musca spinohumera is, however, 

 closely related to M. niesopotamiensis, but there are some good characters by which 

 they can be distinguished, and here again one is oviparous and the other larviparous. 

 I have not seen M. spinohumera from South India, and it appears to be peculiar 

 to Northern India. 



Awati mentions ^1/. covvina, Fabricius, as a synon3-m of his spinoluiuiera, evidently 

 meaning the form which the late Professor Portchinsk^^ referred to as Musca corvina, 

 Fabricius (vivipara). It will be remembered that Portchinsk}^ pointed out that there 

 were two types of M. corvina in Russia, one which he called J/. corvina ovipara, 

 found in Northern Russia, which lays stalked eggs and has a white pupariuni, and 

 the other, M. corvina vivipara, which deposits larvae and has a brown puparium, 

 and is only found in the Crimea. In the paper on " Certain haematophagous species 

 of the Genus Musca " (Ind. Jl. Med. Res., i, no. 1, 1913), in collaboration with Major 

 Cragg, I. M.S., attention was drawn to the observations of Portchinsky in a footnote 

 on page 12, and after examining a good series of both forms, it was concluded that 

 they were distinct species. To quote our words, " From our knowledge of the 

 oviparous convexifrons (spined eggs and white puparium), pattoni (spined eggs and 

 dirty grey puparium), and the larviparous hezzii, it appears to us that Portchinsky 

 has confused two distinct species of Musca, one entirely oviparous and the other 

 entirelv larviparous." Since then I have studied all the stages of the oviparous 

 species now known as Musca autumnalis, de Geer, in the South of England, and 

 observed that it lays its stalked eggs singly in patches of fresh cow-dung dropped 

 in the field, and that the puparium is white. But with regard to the larviparous 

 species. Major Austen has drawn my attention to the curious fact that there is no 

 description of it in any of Portchinsky 's writings, and yet I find that Schnabl and 

 Dziedzicki in their work, " Die Anthomyiden," speak of it as Musca larvipara, 

 Portchinskv {olini Musca corvinoidcs. in litt. Schnabl & Dziedzicki). As they 

 partly describe the male, the species must in future be known as Musca larvipara, 

 Schnabl & Dziedzicki, and not Portchinsky. 



As mv material of this species is old and not in good preservation, I shall be 

 glad to exchange any Indian species for fresh material. 



11. Musca bezzll, Patton & Cragg. 



Synonym : Musca pilosa, Awati. 



This large handsome fl\- is very common in all the Indian hill stations, and also 

 at the foot of the hills. It is purely haematophagous in habit, and is only found on 

 and around animals. The female deposits one larva at a time, in the second stage, 

 on patches of fresh cow-dung. 



M. hezzii belongs to the lusoria group, but is distinct frcm that species. The 

 male has a dark thorax and yellowish abdomen, with silvery patches and stripes. 

 The female is greyish, with black bands and stripes. 



