1941] 
Hippobosca martinaglia 
23 
bristles in the one female seen and eight in the one male. 
The arrangement of the tergal sclerotized plates of the abdo- 
men is, in the male, similar to that of the males of H. equina 
and H. longipennis, but the first (anterior) two median 
tergal plates are very small. In the female I can find no 
trace of a third median tergal plate, the second is small and 
the first barely indicated (Bedford’s figure, drawn from the 
female, does not show the median tergal plates) . The color- 
pattern, although fairly correctly outlined by Bedford, is 
by no means as boldly marked as in his figure; it agrees, 
moreover, with that of other specimens of H. fulva seen. 
Dr. du Toit also sent me a male of Hippobosca fulva, 
taken by Mr. Alex. Cuthbertson from a purple-crested 
lourie or plantain-eater ( Gallivex p. porphyrolophus Vigors) 
on the Sabi River, eastern Transvaal. The host was no 
doubt accidental. 
I may emphasize, on this occasion, that color and markings 
are, as a rule, without value as specific characters in Hippo- 
boscidae, a fact not fully recognized as yet by some recent 
authors. Not only do they vary individually within the same 
species, but they often change in the same specimen. During 
life, such color changes may be due to age (time elapsed 
since hatching) , to the fed or unfed condition, to parturation 
(in females), or to the nature of the diet and other environ- 
mental factors conditioned by the host. After death, the 
color of the living insect may be more or less modified by the 
method of killing and preservation, as well as by the length 
of time the specimen was kept in collections. 
