landensis they are sometimes almost golden brown. Besides 
variation in markings there is considerable variation in size. From 
Australia 1 have noticed that the females are larger than those from 
S. America and the West Indies, but the males are of normal 
dimensions. From Bonny and Old Calabar the specimens of both 
sexes seemed to be small. 
Very small specimens occur in parts of India. GILES says : « A 
dwarf variety from Calcutta is the smallest true gnat I have met 
with ». 
The only two Portuguese specimens I have seen were abnor- 
mally large. I have seen all sizes from various parts of the world 
varying between 2™™50 and 5™™. Some which I bred in England 
from dried ova, and which fed irregularly when larva, reached 
barely 2™™5. Size is evidently a question of nourishment in the 
larval stage. 
Habits and food. 
The adult S. fasciata feeds largely upon the blood of man. It is 
a most vicious and persistent biter. DURHAM (1901) has shown 
that it also feeds on the blood of dogs, and he also found it feeding 
on an agouti and on bats. 
It is practically a Day Mosquito. In the West Indies it bites 
mostly between 1 and 3 p. m. But Dr. GRAY, in a letter to 
Mr. AUSTEN, says : « You will observe that I have caught them at 
all hours of the day, and even late at night ». Low also noticed 
this in the West Indies. He wrote me as follows : « Whilst in 
Trinidad, unless I went to bed under a mosquito net, I found it 
impossible to rest and sleep in the heat of the day owing to the 
continual bites of this pest. It used to bite one on the feet and 
ankles in the mornings, and again, as GRAY says, bites all night 
as well ». 
In Para DURHAM (1901) tells us it is solely a day Gnat. It will 
bite soon after sunrise, its time of chief activity in Para being in 
the middle of the day, from 12 to 2, and on till 5. 
In Gambia DUTTON (1903) found it biting at 4 p. m. Practically 
we may say it may bite at any time during light, but that one is 
generally free from its attacks at night. 
The adults breed the first day after their emergence from the 
