4 



mlokosiewiczi, and Loa Loa, causing Calabar swellings of man, by- 

 Cfirysops diiiiif/iata, as well as that of Bae itlu's anthracis might be conve- 1 

 yanced By Tabanidac and infectious anoemia of horses might be trans-' 

 mitted 'by several horse-flies. 



We have no idea about the life-history of our horse-flies, but 

 we have some knowledge of certain species occuring in other count- 

 ries. The females deposit their spindle-shaped brown or black eggs 

 closely packed in rounded or flattened masses, which are attached to 

 the leaves and stems of rushes or other smooth surfaces over water or 

 wet ground. The larvae are whitish soft-bodied grubs, and are found 

 in water, in earth, or in decaying wood. In shape they are cylindrical, 

 tapering at each end, with a small retractile head, and with the first 

 seven of the eight abdominal segments each encircled near its anterior 

 margin with a ring of fleshy protuberances, of which there are two- 

 transverse dorsal, one lateral on each side, and four rounded ventral 

 ones. It is generally known that house-fly larvae are carnivorous, 

 preying upon beetle larvae, snails, worms, etc. ; in my observation at 

 Ako in Formosa (May, 1912) it is noticed that a larva of an undeter- 

 mined species of Chrysops fed on a larva of Schoenobius incertellus, 

 Walker, which was in "a half-decayed paddy stem. Ihe pupa which is 

 not unlike that of a Ijepiddpterous insect, remains stationary in the 

 earth or water. 



Tabanidae are sometimes preyed upon by robber-flies ; thus at 

 Ako in Formosa, on May I5th 1912, the late Mr. I. Nitobe took a 

 female of Microstyhun obertlmri, Wulp, feeding upon a male Chrysops 

 sinensis, in the southern part of Formosa, from May to July we may 

 often meet with males of many species of Chrysops and Atylotns, and 

 of the small species of Tabanus being the prey of large robber-flies, 

 such as Micrcstyhint, but there is no example of the female horse-flies 

 being attacked by Asilidae flies. In other countries, it is noted by 

 Austen that Machinus atricapillus, Fl., feeds upon that male of Chrysops 

 ) Linn. In one case I met in Formosa, the female of Chrysops 



