46 G. TACHINOIDES: EEPEODUCTION, ETC. 



the cover consisted of " long thick grass, and trees overhanging 

 the stream." In a note attached to his specimens, Dr. Pollard 

 adds that there was " plenty of shade, but the trees were by no 

 means continuous." 



In Southern Arabia, G. tacliinoides was found by Captain 

 R. M. Carter sparsely and locally in thick belts of euphorbia, 

 babal thorn, and tamarisk, and also in cactus belts. It was 

 never seen " in the date groves or along patches of cultivation," 

 and was not always met with near the edge of water. Captain 

 Carter writes: — "The Arabian Glossina tacliinoides does not 

 depend for its existence on big game, for, excepting gazelle, 

 nothing else frequents the belts of bush which it haunts. Only 

 once was the fly recognised by Arabs, and then by a band of 

 wild Bedouins from North-Western Subaihi .... They stated this 

 fly used to be more frequent in Subaihi, that it bit goats, 

 donkeys, horses, dogs, and men, but did not attack camels or 

 sheep. They further stated that it sucked blood only after the 

 spring rains, that some years it disappeared from a district 

 entirely, that rarely it became abundant, and then they moved 

 their settlement and cattle by night marches to a fly-free 

 district." * 



Reproduction and Preliminary Stages. 



Roubaud, who in Dahomey has observed the behaviour of 

 G. tacliinoides in captivity, states that, as in the case of G. 

 palpalis under similar conditions, copulation takes place directly 

 after the flies are hatched. At 25° C. (77° F.) larvae are 

 deposited on the average at intervals of eight days ; the duration 

 of the pupal stage at a mean temperature of 24° to 25° C. 

 (75" 2° to 77° F.) was found to be from twenty-eight to thirty-five 

 days.f 



A dried and apparently not quite mature larva of this 

 species, from Amani, German East Africa (Dr. F. Vosseler), 

 measures 6 mm. in length, but, since the specimen is unfor- 

 tunately somewhat crushed, its maximum breadth cannot be 

 stated. A pupa (Figs. 5 e and 6 E, pp. 5 and 7) from Amani, also 

 presented by Dr. Vosseler, is 5-5 mm. long, by 3 mm. in 

 greatest width. These specimens show that the most striking 

 characteristic of the larva and pupa of G. tacliinoides is the 

 relatively large size of the tumid lips, which are actually larger 



* Captain R. M. Carter, I.M.S., loc. cit. 

 t Cf. Roubaud, loc. cit., p. 407. 



