478 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



EDITORIAL GLEANINGS. 



Mr. W. L. Sclater, the Director of the South African Museum at 

 Cape Town, has prepared, for the use of his friends and correspondents, a 

 1 List of the Birds of South Africa ' (Cape Town, 1899). This list com- 

 prises the species of birds found within the area over which his proposed 

 ' Fauna of South iUrica ' will extend. This area is thus denned : — " The 

 northern limits of South Africa, as treated of in this work, will be a line 

 drawn from the Cunene River on the West to the Zambesi at the Victoria 

 Falls, and thence along that river to its mouth. Within it will therefore 

 be enclosed the British Colonies of the Cape and Natal, the two Republics 

 of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, the southern half of the 

 Chartered Company's territory, German South-west Africa, and that portion 

 of Portuguese East Africa which lies south of the Zambesi." The number 

 of species enumerated in this list is 775, to which, however, considerable 

 additions will doubtless have to be made. The first volume, by Arthur C. 

 Stark, M.B., containing Part I. of the Birds, will shortly appear, and it is 

 hoped that that relating to the Mammals, by Mr. Sclater, will be ready for 

 publication during the course of the present year. This work will be a 

 worthy companion to ' The Fauna of British India,' edited by W. T. Blan- 

 ford. The London publisher is Mr. R. H. Porter. 



The Natural History Department of the British Museum have issued 

 a small pamphlet, ' How to collect Mosquitoes ' (Cidicida), and doubtless 

 any traveller or resident abroad who is willing to assist the Museum by 

 sending specimens can freely obtain this useful guide for collecting, pre- 

 serving, and transmitting. It contains much accurate zoological teaching. 

 Mosquitoes or Gnats (strictly speaking the terms are synonymous) are the 

 names popularly applied to the family Culicidce (Diptera). Culicida are 

 by no means the only blood-sucking Diptera, for the order also comprises 

 the blood-sucking Midges (genus Ceratopogon, belonging to the family 

 Chironomidce), the Simulidm, Tabanida, and bloodsucking Muscida (Glos- 

 sina, Stomoxys, Hcematobia). The females of all of these suck blood in the 

 perfect state, while the males are usually harmless, though in the Tsetse- 

 fly the blood-sucking habit is stated to be common to both sexes,* as has 



* Surgeon-Major David Bruce, A.M. S., 'Further Report on the Tsetse 

 Fly Disease, or Nagana, in Zululand,' p. 3. London: Harrison & Sons. 1897. 



