95 



a suggestion as to preventives is made,, which, under certain circum- 

 stances, will prove uudoubtedly of great benefit. 



IS IT A NATIVE OR AN IMPORTED PEST? 



Since this insect was first brought to our notice we have felt that it 

 was an imported pest. Its first appearance in the neighborhood of 

 Philadelphia and its gradual spread southward have favored this idea. 

 Dr. Williston, to whom we sent specimens for name, wrote us that he 

 thought it an introduced species, and very close to Hwmatobia serrata 

 of Robineau-Desvoidy, differing only in color of legs and antennae. He 

 has since, however, described it as a new species (see Entomologica 

 Americana, Vol. V, No. 9, September, 1889, pp. 180-181), under the name 

 Hwmatobia comicola, giving H. serrata as a questionable synonym. 

 His published remarks on this point are: 



I can not resist the belief that the species is an introduced one, and suspect that it 

 may be identical with H. serrata R.-Desv., occurring in France. Aside, however, 

 from the discrepancies that his description shows in the color of the legs, an identifi- 

 cation of this author's species is usually, at least, only a guess. Macquart's very 

 brief description is better; but the palpi are distinctly enlarged, and he says they 

 are not. Nothing but a comparison of the specimens will settle the question. 



Meantime Dr. Lintner had sent specimens to Baron Osten-Sacken at 

 Berlin, who determined them, as Dr. Lintner informs us in a letter 

 dated September 16, as the European serrata, placing it in the closely 

 allied genus or subgenus Lyperosia of Rondani. We are quite inclined 

 to accept Baron Osten Sacken's dictum in this matter and so also we feel 

 assured will Dr. Williston, and we hence conclude that our species is 

 the European serrata, whether it be ultimately placed in Hwmatobia or 

 Lyperosia both of which genera were split off from Stomoxys and are 

 considered by Schiner as subgenera of this last. At present we shall 

 follow Dr. Williston in placing it in Hwmatobia. 



We know little of the European geographical distribution of H ser- 

 rata. Robineau-Desvoidy described it from France and Schiiier gives 

 its location as south France, while Macquart gives it as inhabiting the 

 south of France, and records it specifically from Bordeaux. The fact that 

 in this country it has spread with much greater rapidity towards the 

 south than towards the north would seem to indicate that it is a south 

 European species. 



The habits of HaBinatobia in Europe are given by Railliet* as follows : 



The Hiematobias are very small flies which live in the fields and seldom penetrate 

 into the stables. As their name indicates, they are at least as blood-thirsty as Sto- 

 moxys. They attack the animals in the pastures, particularly cattle, and they often 

 collect in great numbers upon a single individual, with their wings expanded, work- 

 ing in through the hairs to pierce the skin. H. stimulans Meig. and H. ferox R.-D. 

 are the principal species of our region. — [France.] 



The exact time and place of the introduction, it is impossible to ascer- 

 tain. Upon its first importation in small numbers it was probably for 



v Elements do Zoologie M6dicale et Agricole. 



