BY T. H. JOHNSTON AND M. J. BANCROFT. 195 
We would like to point out that in the case of blowflies 
the larviparous habit is not necessarily associated with 
blood-sucking. Besides, mosquitoes and Tabanids, which 
are blood-suckers, do not practise larviposition. 
Musca vetTustissima Walker. 
(Text-figures)*2,.9,°8, 12, 13; 14, 15, 17, 19, 21, 22, 26.) 
As far as we are aware the male has not been 
described. The following is Walker’s original description 
(1849, p. 902) of the female. It has also been quoted by 
Cleland (1913, p. 18-19). 
* Musca vetustissima n.s. fem.—Cana, capite albo 
micante, thoraci vittis duabus latis nigris, abdomine cano- 
cinereo, palpis nigris, antennis piceis basi nigris, pedibus 
piceis, alis limpidis basi albis. Body hoary, clothed with 
black hairs and bristles ; head adorned with white lustre; a 
black stripe between the eyelets and the feelers ; epistoma 
not prominent ; sides of the face feathered with bristles at 
the base ; eyes red ; fore part flat, its facets a little larger 
than those elsewhere ; sucker pitchy, clothed with tawny 
hairs ; palpi black, beset with black bristles ; feelers black, 
a little shorter than the face; third joint pitchy, linear, 
rounded at the top, about thrice the length of the second 
joint ; chest adorned with two broad black stripes ; abdomen 
obconical, grey, with hoary reflections, a little broader, 
but not longer than the chest ; legs pitchy, clothed with 
black hairs and_ bristles; foot-cushions tawny; wings 
colourless white at the base; wing-ribs and vein pale 
tawny ; veins darker towards the tips; tip cross-vein 
forming an obtuse angle with the fourth longitudinal vein, 
very slightly inclined inwards along the whole length, joining 
the border a little above the tip of the wing ; lower cross- 
vein nearly straight ; squame white; poisers pale yellow. 
Length of the body 2 lines; of the wings 4 lines. New 
EV ollie ere caceryy: | 
M. vetustissima is a fly with a dark body and very 
lightly coloured abdomen in the case of the male, but 
with a dusky abdomen in the female. The length of a 
normal male or female is about 6 mm. though one may 
frequently meet with very small specimens ranging in 
