dipteea : tai3anidae. 45 



Tabaninae. 

 Genus Tabanus, Linn. 

 Fauna Suecica, Ed. ii, p. 462 (1761 ). 



Tabanus albipectus, Bigot. 



T. albipectus, Bigot, Ann. So3. Ent. France, (3) vii, p. 125, pi. ix, fig. 2 (1859). 



Twenty-one specimens, from various localities as follows : — One $, from Poivre 

 Is., Amirante Is., v-xii. 1905 (J. S. Gardiner) ; one $, from I. des Roches, Amirante 

 Is., 15. X. 1905 ; one ?, from Aldabra, 1907 (H. P. T.) ; 15 ??, from Aldabra, 

 1908-9 (J. C. F. Fryer) ; one (J, two ? ?, from Long Island and Maho, Seychelles 

 (Cascade, about 1,000 feet), 1908-9. 



A comparison of the foregoing material with the type of the species, taken in 

 Madagascar by Dr. Coquerel and now in the British Museum, places the correctness 

 of the identification beyond doubt. In addition to the type of T. albipectus, the 

 National Collection includes a (^ and $ from Astove I. and Aldabra respectively 

 (P. R. Dupont), and a Ofrom Pigaduli, Zanzibar, " on goat," 14.X.1912 (Dr. W. M. 

 Aders). 



To the specimens from Aldabra in the present series, taken by Mr. J. C. F. Fryer, 

 the following interesting field-note was attached : — " Most numerous in December 

 [1908] : attack sea-turtles, biting them between the plates on the back : apparently 

 attack them in water as well as on land. Were seen flying all over the lagoon, and 

 also some way out at sea. They fly strongly, and bite man also." As already 

 explained, this note must be taken as applying equally to Aegophagamyia terticeps, 

 Austen {vide supra). With reference to the biting of reptiles by blood-sucking 

 Diptera, it may be remembered that the typical series of Tabanus crocodilinus, 

 Austen, was taken on a crocodile in Nyasaland (cf. Austen, Bull. Ent. Res., ii, 

 p. 285 (1912)), w^hile in Uganda, as is well known, Glossina palpalis feeds readily 

 upon crocodiles and monitors. 



