BITING FLIES IN BRITISH EAST AFRICA 87 
water which has remained dirty and unchanged for months ; 
but, under these conditions, they do not grow so rapidly, and 
if the dirty water be too prolonged, they are liable to the 
attacks of a disease called peste rouge in France. 
The cultivated carp of Germany is, of course, an excellent 
eating fish. Attached to all the old monasteries were the carp 
ponds, or stews, for Friday’s dinner, and for the banquets of 
the more luxurious nobles who, at that time, were unable to 
get supplies of fish from the sea. A German carp that has been 
properly fattened and well cooked has an entirely different 
flavour from the little, muddy-tasting, degenerate carp of British 
waters. Carp thrive best in a somewhat warmer summer 
climate than England ; and before being eaten should be put 
in a small fattening pond and fattened, like a pig, on meal. 
In the old days, very great care was taken in the breeding 
and fattening of fish, castration even being practised to hasten 
the fattening process. Those who care to cultivate the fish 
on a large scale should read the particularly interesting French 
work which has lately appeared on this subject — ‘ Pisciculture,’ 
by G. Guenaux (Bailliere : Paris). 
Pretoria May 16, 1911. 
NOTES ON SOME OF THE PRINCIPAL BITING 
FLIES IN BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
By S. A. Neave, M.A., B.Sc. Oxon. 
Before discussing the methods of collecting biting flies it 
will be as well to give a short synopsis of the genera most 
likely to be met with by the ordinary resident or traveller in 
this Protectorate. 
The great majority of bloodsucking flies in Tropical Africa 
belong to the family Tabanidae, of which the principal genera 
are Tabanus , Haemato'pota, Pangonia, and Chryso'ps. 
Most of the species belong to these four genera, and to 
simplify matters I do not propose to go into details concerning 
