INAUGURAL ADDRESS 
ON 
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE MALTESE 
ISLANDS. 
By ROBERT NEWSTEAD, M.S8c., A.L.S., Etc., 
PRESIDENT. 
[ ABSTRACT. | 
The subject matter of the President’s Address was 
gathered during a visit to the Maltese Islands in the 
summer of 1910, while on a special expedition sent out 
under the joint auspices of the Colonial Office and the 
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. The object of 
this expedition was to investigate the problems connected 
with the menace to health caused by the blood-sucking 
Papataci-flies of the genus Phlebotomus, chiefly among 
which was the discovery of their breeding places with a 
view of devising some prophylactic measures for the 
control of these pests. 
The larvae of these flies were found in the crevices 
beneath loose rock in the caves, and were evidently 
feeding upon the rejectamenta of the larvae of various 
insects, Oniscus sp., and lizards. Elsewhere they were 
also discovered in the interior of stone walls. In all of 
these places, however, the conditions were practically 
the same, the three main factors being :—(1) the presence 
of organic matter; (2) moisture, but not in excess; and 
(3) the absence of light. 
