Rutherford (A.)- Stomoxys caJcitrans h.-^Trop. Agric, Peradeniya, 

 xlii, no. 3, March 19U, pp. 222-225. 



F. C. Bishopp has recently given an account of a severe outbreak 

 of this pest in Texas [sae this Review, B, i, p. 96] and in October 1913 

 a bad outbreak occurred in Talawakelle. The Government Veterinary 

 Surgeon reported that Stomoxys was swarming in the town and a 

 cause of serious irritation to cattle and horses. The eggs, which are 

 usually laid in masses in straw, hatch in from 1 to 3 days. The larva 

 completes its growth in about 11 days, and 6 days later the adult 

 emerges from the puparium. Green in Ceylon has bred S. calcitrans 

 from decayed pumpkins and S. jjlurinotata from decayed shoots of the 

 Giant Bamboo. 



Whiting (P. W.). Observations on Blow Flies; Duration of the 

 Prepupal Stage and Colour Determination. — Biol. Bull., Mar. Biol. 

 Lab., Woods Hole, Mass., xxvi, no. 3, March 1914, pp. 184-194. 



The results of two main lines of experiments on blowflies are recorded. 

 The first was concerned with the duration of the prepupal or migration 

 stage of the larvae, and the conclusions may be summarised as follows : 

 The length of the prepupal period is determined by factors of environ- 

 ment rather than of heredity, and these are complex and obscure in 

 general ; dryness, cold, or agitation due to crowding, tend to prevent 

 pupation, while change from dryness to dampness, or the reverse, 

 induces pupation. The prepupal stage may be extended for a long 

 period, four months in one experiment, in warm temperature, without 

 injury to the development of adult flies. Lack of opportunity for the 

 larvae to bury themselves does not inhibit pupation. Exhaustion 

 of the food supply before the larvae have attained full size has a 

 tendency to produce undersized but normally formed flies. The 

 causes producing misshapen flies are more obscure, but may in part ba 

 due to drying of the pupae. Delayed pupation in Lucilia larvae results 

 in a change from white to pink in the fat body, but in two genera of 

 larger flies, Cynomyia and CalUpJiora, the white colour is maintained 

 although shrinkage of the whole body occurs. There is no evidence 

 that overfeeding delays pupation, but much evidence that larvae will 

 pupate immediately despite the fact that they have had abundant 

 opportunity to overeat. 



The second main hue of investigation was concerned with coloration 

 in the adult flies, and the results show that the factors influencing the 

 colour of the adult is hereditary and that environmental factors, hght 

 and temperature, seem to have no effect upon the degree or rapidity 

 with which the changes of colour take place as development advances. 



Laveran (A.) & Franchini (G.). Infection de la Souris au moyen des 

 Flagelles de la Puce du Rat, par la Voie Digestive. [Infection of 

 Mice with the Flagellates of the rat flea through the digestive 

 tract.] — C. R. Acad. Sci., Paris, clviii, no. 11, 16th March 1914, 

 pp. 770-772. 



In the present paper, which is a continuation of the work by the 

 authors on the infection of rats and mice by fleas infected with 

 flagellates [cf. this Review, Ser. B, ii, p. 54], experiments are described 



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