-156- 



because of a drop in skin temperature. This may partly explain the 

 poor feeding success on anesthetized hamsters observed in this study. 

 Lu . diabol ica females demonstrated a discriminatory behavior when 

 feeding on human volunteers, accepting blood from some individuals and 

 consistently rejecting others. This response may be related to the 

 individual body chemistry of the human host. Investigations to 

 determine the factors associated with the host which serve as 

 phagostimulants are essential to the development of efficient 

 artificial-membrane feeding systems. 



Oviposition . In the laboratory colony, 82% of blood-fed females 

 deposited eggs, compared to 56% for wild-caught females from the June 

 1982 survey trip and 76% for the September 1983 survey trip. This 

 increase reflects improvements in handling procedures, rearing 

 conditions and larval diet. Of the 32 females sampled in the 13th 

 generation, 100% laid eggs. The procedures and conditions used in 

 that generation have been used exclusively in subsequent generations 

 with highly satisfactory results. 



Gravid females retained at 100% RH deposit their eggs earlier 

 than at lower humidity, all other factors being the same. This 

 suggests that at higher RH, females sense that conditions are 

 favorable for oviposition and are less inclined to retain their eggs 

 after they mature than they would be at lower RH. Chaniotis (1967), 

 noticed that at RH of less than 60%, a saturation deficiency was 

 created in the environment of the gravid female sand fly, causing a 

 delay in oviposition. 



The number of eggs laid per batch varies from species to species. 

 Gemetchu (1976) reported a mean of 52 eggs per batch in P. longipes 



