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, DEVELOPMENT, AND BIONOMICS OF HOUSE-FLY. 349 



II. DISTRIBUTION. 



Musca domstica is probably the most widely, distributed 

 insect to be found ; the animal most commonly associated with 

 man, whom it appears to have followed over the entire globe, 

 It extends from the sub-polar regions, where Linnaeus' refers 

 to its occurrence in Lapland, and Finmark as " rara avis in 

 Lapponia, at in Finmarchia Norwegias integras domos fere 

 replet," to the tropics, where it occurs in enormous numbers. 

 Referring to its abundance in a house near Para in equatoraj 

 Brazil, Austen (1904) says: "At the mid-day meal they 

 swarmed on the table in almost inconceivable numbers," and 

 other travellers in different tropical countries have related, 

 similar experiences to me, how they swarm round each piece 

 of food as it is carried to the mouth. ; .'" ; 



In the civilised and populated regions of the world it occurs 

 commonly, and the British Museum (Natural History) collec-, 

 tiou and my own contain specimens from the following 

 localities. Certain of the localities have, in addition, been ; 

 obtained from lists of insect faunas : 



Asia. Aden; North West Provinces (India); Calcutta; 

 Madras ; Bombay (it probably occurs over the whole of 

 India) ; Ceylon ; Central China ; Hong-Kong ; Shanghai ; 

 Straits Settlements ; Japan. 



Africa. Port Said; Suez; Egypt; Somaliland; Nyassa- 

 land ; Uganda; British E. Africa; Ehodesia; Transvaal; 

 Natal ; Cape Colony ; Madagascar ; Northern and Southern 

 Nigeria; St. Helena; Madeira. 



America. Distributed over North America; Brazil; 

 Monte Video (Uruguay) ; Argentine ; Valparaiso ; West 

 Indies. 



Australia and New Zealand. 



Europe and the isles of the Mediterranean; it is especially 

 common in Cyprus. 



Not only is this world-wide distribution of interest, but its 

 distribution in our own country is noteworthy. From observa- 

 tions that I have made during a number of years in town and 



