﻿DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW SPECIES— PART I. 363 



specimens for identification they should, by preference, be placed in a strong 

 shallow pill-box on a web-like layer of cotton wool, but it is fatal to place a 

 second stratum of such material above the insects as it not only flattens the 

 specimens, but also breaks off the appendages and thus renders them useless 

 for study. If the cotton wool is teased out so that the strands are loosened 

 the insects will adhere to this, and will thus be prevented from becoming 

 abraded during transit. Pinning such minute insects often renders them value- 

 less for microscopical study, and moreover it is rarely that specimens so treated 

 can be determined with any degree of accuracy owing to the minute differences 

 which exist in this small and obscure group of insects. If pill-boxes are used, 

 they must necessarily be placed in a stronger box for transit. 



One of the most interesting instances of geographical distribution among 

 these apparently frail midges is that of Phlebotomus minutus, Rond. The true 

 form, so far as one can judge, is found not only in the Mediterranean area, but 

 also in India, while the African race (var. africanus, var. nov.) occurs in such 

 widely separated regions as the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, British Central Africa 

 and British West Africa. It is probable that, as we extend our studies of these 

 flies, the var. africanas may eventually be given specific rank, but I must admit 

 that the separation of the typical form from this variety is a critical and 

 difficult task, all the more so as the latter is given to considerable variation in 

 size, a marked variation in the length of the terminal segments of the palpi and 

 in the form of the wings {see fig. 3 a, b). 



Phlebotomus minutus, Rondani. 



Having examined two additional examples of the species (both from Malta) 

 since the publication of my paper* dealing with the Papataci Flies of the 

 Maltese Islands, I find that the character of the third segment of the palpi 

 varies considerably according to its orientation and that when seen dorso- 

 ventrally (fig. la) there is little or no trace of the incrassation noted by me, 

 though when seen in profile (fig. lb) this segment is considerably wider than the 

 preceding one, and thus I was led to believe that it was distinctly swollen on 

 all sides. After re-examining all my material, I have come to the conclusion 

 that the segment in question is flattened or depressed laterally, and that its 

 transverse diameter is much less than that of the vertical diameter. 



I have pleasure in recording the occurrence of this species at Suda Island, 

 where 1 S and 2 Q Q were taken by Fleet-Surgeon Lancelot Kilroy (H.M.S. 

 Diana), 30.X.1910. 



Phlebotomus minutus var. africanus, var. nov. 



Length (average), 2*25 mm. ; largest wing, Q 2*28 mm., c? 1*95 mm. ; 

 smallest wing, Q 1*78 mm.. d> 1*33 mm. 



This is clearly a well defined race of Phlebotomus minutus, Rond., differing in 

 the relatively longer second and fourth segments of the palpi (fig. 1, e) in both 



* Bull. Ent. Res. II, p. 69 (1911). 



