INTRODUCTION. 



THE epoch-making discoveries, made within the last fourteen years 

 as to the etiology and mode of dissemination of some of the most 

 formidable diseases threatening human life and progress in the 

 Tropics, have naturally produced widespread interest in the 

 proved or potential living carriers of pathogenic micro-organisms. 

 As regards Blood-sucking Flies, at any rate, nowhere is this interest 

 keener than in Tropical Africa, in the sanitation and development 

 of which the greater number of European nations are more or less 

 concerned. It was therefore thought that " African Blood-sucking 

 Flies (other than Mosquitoes and Tsetse-Flies) " might well be 

 selected as the subject of what is intended to be one of a series 

 of volumes, dealing in a similar manner with the blood-sucking 

 Diptera. In the present work no attempt has been made to 

 provide detailed technical descriptions of species, since experience 

 has shown that such descriptions are of little use to any but 

 specialists. No pains have, however, been spared in order to make 

 the illustrations as accurate as possible, and although it cannot be 

 claimed that they are perfect, it is nevertheless hoped that the 

 standard of accuracy attained in the figures is such as to render 

 detailed descriptions unnecessary. 



For the purposes of this book, "African" has been taken as 

 signifying " Ethiopian," except that Egyptian species, owing to 

 their close affinity to or identity with those found in the Anglo- 

 Egyptian Sudan, have also been included; in other words, with 

 the exception of Egypt, the countries lying to the north of the 

 Tropic of Cancer, and therefore zoo-geographically beyond the 

 northern limit of the Ethiopian Region, have been regarded as 

 outside the scope of the work, so that species found in Tripoli, 

 Tunis, Algeria, and Morocco have been left out of account. The 

 concluding chapter has been devoted to lists of African Blood- 



