1898.] 11 



possible, to obtain farther information upon this point, I applied to 

 tbe Hon. Gr. Lascelles, Deputy Surveyor of tbe New Porest, of the 

 Queen's House, Lyndhurst. Mr. Lascelles, writing under date October 

 17th, 1897, replied to my enquiries as follows : — 



" The number of red deer in the New Forest is very small — perhaps a dozen or 

 so. At the time of the Deer Removal Act, 1851, they were reduced to the lowest 

 ebb, and a mere remnant has existed since. I have killed only a few from time to 

 time, and I have never observed such a bot-fly as you name, or its larvae in the 

 throats of deer. I have killed so many falloiv deer that if it existed in their case I 

 must have observed it." 



With reference to the last remark of Mr. Lascelles, it may be 

 added that the fly has never been reported to attack fallow deer ; 

 indeed, did it do so. Ph. pieta ought to be comparatively common, 

 considering the number of fallow deer kept in parks in this country.* 

 All GEsfrincB (even species like Hi/poderma Uneatum, VilL, and Gas- 

 trophilus equi, Fabr., whose larvae are parasitic in domestic cattle and 

 horses) are relatively rare in the perfect state, and, therefore, it is not 

 surprising that Ph. picta should have disappeared from the New 

 Forest, where it could have but a dozen victims. But the argument 

 does not apply in the case of deer-forests in Scotland, or the country 

 of the " Devon and Somerset," and Dipterists who have access to these 

 favoured localities at the proper season should bear this in mind. 



As a further hint to collectors, it may be added that, according to 

 Brauer, Cephenomyia auribarhis is a comparatively sluggish fly, which 

 does not wander far from the haunts of the deer ; G. stimulator and 

 Pharyngomyia picta, on the other hand, are much more active and 

 roam further afield. Of these latter species, the males in particular 

 are very partial to the summits of mountains, where they greet the 

 climber by sweeping to and fro in the air in front of him, while in 

 colder weather they may be found seated on stones warmed by the 

 rays of the sun- 



Brauer states that the larvae attain their full development in May and June, 

 and that the fly is on the wing at the end of June and during July. Unlike 

 Cephenomyia this species is clothed only with short hair, so that it appears to be 

 bare. According to Brauer (" Monographic," pp. 178, 179) the head is yellowish- 

 brown, beautifully marked with shimmering silvery flecks; the face and occiput are 



* For some reason the fallow deer appears to be remarkably little troubled by the attacks of 

 (Eslriwe. According to Brauer and von Bergen.stamm i " Vorarbeiten zu einer Monographie der 

 Muscaria Schizornetopa- -Exclusive AailiouiyidK — Pars iv ;" Denkschr. math. — naturwiss. (Jlas.se 

 K. Akad. Wis.s. Wien, Bd., Ixi, WM, \). Ml) the only species that molest it are " Cephenohbi/ia 

 rufibarbU, Wd." (= V. aaribarbln, Mg. ), and an unknown species of Hypoderma. The former, 

 however, is given with a note of intorrngaiion, and frona a comparison with the "Monographie," 

 p. 27H, its insertion as a para.site of the fallow deer appears simply to rest on a vague and unsup- 

 ported statement by Bechstein (" Gemeinniitxige Naturgeschichte Deutschlands," Bd., 1, 18U1, p. 

 4.52) to the effect that this deer is "von Engerlingen [Qistrax) geplagt " (," plagued by bots 

 {QistruS) "). 



