42 SPECIES OF PHLEBOTOMUS [CH. 



rubbish ; they prefer underground situations such as cellars 

 and more especially those parts of drains that can only be 

 reached by splashes of dirty water. Although the adult fly 

 is usually excessively abundant in those localities that it infests, 

 no observer has yet succeeded in finding larvae in any con- 

 siderable numbers. There are good reasons for believing that 

 one of the breeding places may be the dark and damp inner 

 surfaces of the walls of latrines, and cesspools. The flies are 

 notoriously common in latrines and in the case of a military 

 camp in Herzegovina, Doerr brought forward evidence to shew 

 that in summer the latrines were the only possible breeding 

 places for the swarms of Phlehotomus that infested the camp. 

 Phlebotomus and disease. The only disease^ which is known 

 to be transmitted by members of this genus is the notorious 

 Three-Day Fever, or Pappataci Fever. P. papatasii Scopoli is 

 the only species that has been definitely proved to carry the 

 infection, but it is almost certain that P. minutus and other 

 members of the genus are equally capable in this respect ; 

 therefore we append a short synopsis of the known species 

 of Phlehotomus together with their distribution. 



Synopsis of known species of Phlehowmus. 



European species'^. 

 A. Abdominal hairs recumbent. 



(i) Integument black. Second segment of palpi slightly longer than 

 third. I-egs pale ochreous buff, with ochreous white refulgence. Length of 

 female 2 "5 mm. nigerrimus, Newstead. 



^ Since the above account was written Townsend {Journ. Amer. Med. 

 Assoc, vol. 61, p. 1717) has brought forward evidence in support of the view 

 that Verruga Peruviana is transmitted by Phlebotomus. These flies were 

 found to be very abundant in the infected districts especially in the Verrugas 

 Canyon. To prove this theory of transmission the author obtained two 

 hairless Mexican dogs. After they had been kept under observation for 

 nearly three months, one of them was inoculated subcutaneously with the 

 ground-up bodies of 20 female Phlebotomus collected the night before in the 

 Verrugas Canyon. On the fifth day this dog appeared ill and its blood was 

 found to contain the peculiar endoglobular forms known as Barton's X-bodies, 

 and also nucleated and broken down red cells. On the sixth day a typical 

 nodular eruption was noticed on the right hind-foot and smears from one of 

 the papules shewed bodies resembling Leishmania. On the eighth day the 

 dog began to improve. The control dog remained in perfect health. 



^ Modified from Alcock's Entomology for Medical Officers. 



