( lxxxiii ) 



referred to in the following note, written July 2, 1916, by 

 Dr. G. D. H. Carpenter, then attached to the Belgian Expedi- 

 tionary Force operating in German East Africa, west of the 

 Victoria Nyanza. The fly was probably a form of Pangonia 

 oldii, Aust., although this species had not hitherto been 

 recorded from so northern an area. 



" I was bitten one day [June 16, 1916] in this locality 

 [30°, 55' E. ; 2°, 5' S.] by a Pangonia, the first I have met. 

 I heard its hum (an unmistakable Tabanid hum), and looking 

 towards the sound saw what I thought was a fine Bombyliid 

 hovering at my bare forearm sucking up moisture from the 

 skin, as Syrphids often do. The proboscis seemed to me to 

 be laid along the surface. I could not quite reconcile the 

 Tabanid hum and the Bombyliid appearance, and was inter- 

 ested to notice that the proboscis was shrinking, i. e. its tip 

 had penetrated, but obliquely and so gradually that I had not 

 felt it. So it seems that this species feeds on the wing. I 

 send the specimen. I had always wondered how Pangonia 

 managed its long proboscis." 



Mallota cimbiciformis, Fln., bred from rotten wood. — 

 Prof. Poulton exhibited examples of M . cimbiciformis bred by 

 Mr. H. Britten of the Hope Department. Mr. Britten had 

 given an account of his observations in the following note : — 



" The larvae were found on April 24, 1916, in a recently cut 

 elm tree at Thame Park, Oxon. The entire centre of the tree 

 was completely rotten, and only a thin shell of living wood 

 remained. The hole left by a large branch which had blown 

 off many years previously gave access to the hollow, which 

 contained at least three feet of debris from old nests of the 

 stock dove, several still retaining fragments of the old egg- 

 shells, with one rotten, much discoloured egg. Below this 

 pile of old nests, where the wood was sodden with water, and 

 about eight feet from the ground when ^he tree was standing, 

 I came across a large number of rat-tailed larvae which seemed 

 to be different from anything I had previously seen, and, as 

 they appeared to be almost full grown, I took a number to 

 attempt to breed the fly. The larvae commenced to pupate 

 at the end of April, the pupae still remaining in the rotten 

 wood throughout which other larvae were feeding. In order 



