328 MEDICAL ENTOMOLOGY 



Todd and Christy made the discovery that its larva does not cause 

 cutaneous myiasis, as was supposed, but actually sucks blood, behaving 

 in the same way as the human tick, Ornithodonis moubata. The above 

 observers saw the natives in the Congo collecting the larvae by digging 

 with a knife, or scraping with a sharp stick, in cracks and crevices in the 

 mud floors of their huts. It was noted that they always selected those 

 huts the occupants of which slept on the floor, and that larvae were rare 

 in huts where raised platforms or beds were used. The flies could be 

 seen resting motionless on the grass walls, beams and other wooden 

 supports of the huts, but as they are of a dusky colour, simulating their 

 surroundings, they are apt to escape observation. The natives also stated 

 that the female flies laid their eggs on the ground, choosing particularly 

 those places where urine had been voided. 



Roubaud has recently made some observations, which are here 

 summarized, on the habits of A. luteola. The adult fly always shuns 



light and is almost invariably found in the darkest 

 Bionomics of - ,, , . . . . , 



A luteola parts of the native huts ; it is very sensitive to heat 



and dies in the sun or when exposed to a temperature 

 of 45 C. Roubaud states that all the species of Auchmeromyia are blood- 

 feeders in their adult stages ; they can, however, be kept alive for long 

 periods on sweet liquids, but then never oviposit. In captivity A. luteola 

 has two periods of oviposition, separated by about a month ; a single fly 

 has laid as many as eight-three eggs, the majority of which were 

 deposited during the first period. 



The larvae are exclusively blood-feeders, and have never been known 

 to take any other food ; they are able to resist starvation for long periods, 

 the young larvae for three weeks, the older ones for a month or more. 

 If fed daily their period of growth occupies about fifteen days ; they 

 moult twice, once about the second and again about the sixth day. 



When buried in the earth they exhibit a remarkable sensibility to heat, 

 becoming very active when the soil is warmed. Roubaud thinks it is this 

 thermotropism which guides them to their hosts ; they appear only to be 

 sensitive to heat when starving, and when fed do not respond to any rise 

 of temperature. 



Button, Todd and Christy give a good account of the larva -and 

 its anatomy. The larva is semi-translucent, of a dirty white colour, 



acephalous and amphipneustic, and consists of seven 

 Structure of the ,, ~ ' . ,. ., , , . ^ 



larva segments. The first is divided by a constriction into 



two portions, the most anterior of which bears the 

 mouth parts, and is capable of protrusion and retraction. At the 



