AUSTRALIAN BLOOD SUCKING FLIES. 235 



the flies hover principally around the head, although they 

 will settle on any portion of tlie body. When flying around 

 the head they do so much in the same manner as the com- 

 mon bush fly Musca vetnstissima, but it was noted, both by 

 Dr. Oleland and myself, that when flying in front where 

 they can be seen, the action is much more like that of a 

 mosquito. I allowed several specimens of S. vexans to 

 settle on my hands and watched the act of biting. The body 

 of the fly was kept parallel to the surface of the hand, the 

 proboscis being vertical, witli the labellse spread apart* 

 The fly in no case continued long at a meal, even when 

 undisturbed, but did not seem to have been repleted. The 

 "bite" was felt as a sharp prick, but left no smarting nor 

 itching afterwards, and no lump was formed as the result 

 of the bite. If the manner of feeding of these flies is an 

 interrupted one, as my observations on S. vexans seem to 

 indicate, they may prove to be of considerable importance 

 as mechanical transmitters of disease. Several specimens 

 of S. vexans were noticed on a calf which was confined in 

 an open pen on Milson Island. They invariably selected 

 the moist surface of the nose and lips to settle on; after 

 remaining motionless, apparently biting, for a short time, 

 a fly would crawl about the surface and then settle down 

 again. When disturbed they flew away, and the mosquito- 

 like action was distinctly observed. Several specimens of 

 Stegomyia atripes Skuse were biting at the same time and 

 also selected the same portion of the nose and lips, and in 

 flying, unless they are clearly seen, it was often hard to 

 distinguish between the mosquito and the Leptid. 



Very probably these flies will prove to have a wide dis- 

 tribution, at any rate along the coastal districts of eastern 

 Australia, but so far they have not been met with west of 

 the mountains. It has been suggested that these flies may 

 have a causal connection with Bung Eye. I do not, how- 

 ever, think that this is likely. Bung Eye is more prevalent 



