468 
A  HIPPOBOSCID  FLY  PARASITIC  ON  BATS 
Trichobiits  parasitic/us,  Gerv. 
In  the  hope  of  procuring  ticks  from  the  indigenous  bats  of 
Jamaica  a  visit  was  paid  to  the  enormous  cave  on  the  estate  of  the 
Honourable  J.  V.  Calder,  Worthy  Park,  m  the  parish  of  St.  Catherine. 
This  was  on  January  8th,  1909.  The  most  distant  cavern  was  found 
swarming  with  bats,  the  whole  roof  of  this  enormous  place  being 
blotted  out  by  a  fluttering  cloud  5  to  6  feet  deep,  their  wings 
producing  a  sound  like  that  of  a  strong  wind  passing  through  a  forest 
of  trees.  Specimens  of  two  distinct  species  of  bats  were  secured, 
and  as  these  plo^'ed  to  be  rareties  111  our  national  collections  at 
British  Museum,  examples  of  both  kinds  have  been  presented  to  the 
authorities.  Chilonycteris  parnelli  evidently  preponderated,  judging 
by  the  number  of  individuals  captured  ;  but  the  fruit-eating 
Monophyllus  redmam  also  swarmed.  The  latter  had  evidently 
carried  m  enormous  quantities  of  the  large  fruit  of  the  ‘  Santa  Maria,  ’ 
{CalophylLimt  caLaba,  Jacq.),  and  quantities  also  of  the  Ginep 
{^Maltcocca  bij^iga,  Linn.),  as  both  kinds  were  found  germinating  in 
the  farthest  recess  of  the  cave,  a  great  distance  from  the  entrance. 
Here  in  this  dark  recess  also  were  seen  quite  a  number  of  flies 
flitting  about  the  lamps  as  we  moved  from  place  to  place.  These 
were  of  two  kinds,  a  tiny  midge-like  species  and  a  larger  kind 
resembling  somewhat  a  house-fly  in  size  and  colour.  Specimens  of 
both  were  secured,  but,  unfortunately,  those  of  the  black-looking 
species  were  lost  while  returning  from  the  cave.  The  smaller  fly 
proved  to  be  T r ichobius  ptirasilicus,  one  of  the  Hippoboscid  group 
belonging  to  the  family  Streblidae.  Besides  those  which  were 
secured  while  on  flight,  fourteen  others  were  taken  from  nine  of  the 
captured  bats.  They  were  extremely  active,  some  of  them  taking 
flight  when  efforts  were  made  to  secure  them ;  and  they  appeared 
by  the  artificial  light  somewhat  like  the  small  ‘  powder-winged  ’  flies 
of  the  genus  Aleurodes.  Both  kinds  of  bats  harboured  these 
parasites.  In  life  the  colour  is  of  a  uniformly  pale  yellowish  brown  ; 
the  wings  being  pale  ochreous-w^hite  with  delicate  -  pale  brownish 
veins.  Length,  1-50  to  2  mm. 
