11 



writing of species met with in bathrooms in India, after referring to 

 harmless Psychodids belonging to the genera Psychoda and Pericoma, 

 remarks : " In addition to these one may also find sitting on the 

 walls more especially in rather shaded corners, other small flies 

 resembling them in their general hairiness and inconspicuous greyish 

 colour, but having much longer legs and a totally different resting- 

 attitude. While the short-legged harmless Psychodids sit in 

 what is roughly the same position that moths usually assume, 

 these other Psychodid flies, which represent the blood-sucking genus 

 Phlebotomus, stand with the body well raised on the long legs, 

 the head down, the tail slightly depressed, and the wings well 

 separated, their tips pointing outwards and upwards." Like other 

 Psychodidae, flies of this genus do not readily take wing when 

 disturbed, but they are at the same time not altogether easy to 

 catch. Doerr notes that the European Phlebotomus papatasii, 

 Scop., is " extremely shy and very quick in its movements ; when 

 approached, these insects make a jump of 10 to 50 cm., seldom more, 

 to the right or left and settle again. They do not as a rule jump 

 forwards or backwards, and it is rare for a specimen to fly for a short 

 distance."* The species of Phlebotomus are essentially nocturnal 

 in their habits, and at night are attracted by light ; Doerr states 

 that in guard-rooms in barracks in Herzegovina he has sometimes 

 seen the petroleum lamps completely covered with dead specimens 

 of Phlebotomus papatasii, Scop., adhering to the greasy surf ace. f 

 " During the day-time," writes Hewlett, " they He up in cool shady 

 places in houses or elsewhere. They have been found under bricks 

 lying in a pile, in hollow trees, behind shutters, pictures, boxes and 

 almirahs, hanging clothes, and other places such as these. They 

 are often found in bathrooms, and still more often in latrines, 

 where the males have been several times seen sucking the moisture 

 from the dirty soil." When approaching a victim on the wing, 

 for the purpose of feeding, a Phlebotomus flies perfectly silently, 

 thus offering a marked contrast to Mosquitoes and Midges. The 



* Cf. " Das Pappatacifieber," by Drs. Doerr, Franz, and Taussig, p. 90 (Leipzig 

 and Vienna: Franz Deuticke, 1909). 



{ Cf. Doerr, op. cit., p. 112. 



