51 



porcupine ; Mr. Scholefield states that he found it on the Yatta ]*htins, 

 British East Africa, where, according to the natives, it feeds only on 

 large animals ; when it bites man it causes great pain and sickness. 

 The author has experimented with material consisting of 14 nymphs 

 sent from Kitui, British East Africa, by Mr. Scholefield ; as only the 

 nymphs and adults are known of this species, an attempt was made 

 to obtain eggs and larvae in the laboratory. 



The nymphs were fed on fowls, and usually became engorged within 

 an hour ; during metamorphosis they were kept in an incubator 

 maintained at 30° C. One female emerged on 22nd Jan. 1913, 

 and four males soon after : the female was fed on the 12th and 17th 

 days after emergence, but although afterwards placed on a fowl at 

 intei-vals of 20 days, it refused to feed again until the 143rd day after 

 emergence, and it had refused to feed from then to the time of writing. 

 It was fertilised on the 13th, 70th, 142nd, 158th, and 168th days. 

 Eggs were laid as follows : — 53 eggs between 99-106 days, 6i) eggs 

 between 118-125 days, 21 eggs between 152-156 days, and 18 eggs 

 between 161-166 days after emergence, making a total of 158 eggs up 

 to the time of writing (4th Nov. 1913). 



The eggs were kept under varying conditions of temperature and 

 moisture ; some were kept at 23-25° C, others at 30° C. and a few at 

 37° C, in each case under both dry and moist conditions. Larvae 

 were obtained from only two batches of eggs, namely those laid at 

 the periods beginning at the 118th and 161st days respectively: in 

 both cases the eggs were kept at 30° C. and moistened daily. Nine 

 larvae hatched out from the first batch of eggs after 24-27 days, and 

 two larvae from the second batch after 26 days. It was found impos- 

 sible to raise these larvae through the nymphal stages. Some larvae 

 though repeatedly placed on a fowl, in some cases for a period of two 

 or three days, nevertheless did not become attached. From these 

 results it seems doubtful whether the fowl is a suitable host for this 

 tick. In the case of Argas persiciis the nymphal and adult stages can 

 be reared on several species of birds and also on mammals, but the 

 larvae do not seem to feed on any animal other than the fowl. 



Theobald (F. V.). A New Mosquito from Samoa. — Entomologist, 

 London, xlvii, Jan. 1914, pp. 36-37. 



A new species of mosquito Pseudofaeniorhynchus santoaensis sp. n. 

 is recorded from Apia, Samoa. The other mosquitos found in Samoa 

 are Stegomyia fosciata, F.\ S. pseudoscutellaris, Theo. ; Culex fatigans, 

 Wied. ; and a species of Mansonia. 



Austen (E. E.). On certain recently described Australian Species of 

 Tabanus. — Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., London, xiii, no. 74, Feb. 1914. 

 pp. 263-266. 



The present paper revises some points in the nomenclature of the 

 species of Tabanus described by Mr. Taylor, in his report to the Aus- 

 tralian Institute of Tropical Medicine for the year 1911 [this Review, 

 Ser. B, ii, pp. 11-12]. The species regarded by Mr. Taylor as Tabanus 

 absiersns, Walker, is not that species. The names T. fuscipes and 

 T. Uneatus are already occupied, and the author suggests the name 

 T. taijlori instead of the former. The species regarded as T. gregarius, 



