ENTOMOLOGY

BIOLOGICAL NOTES ON BLOODSUCKING FLIES !35PUPIPARAThe suborder Pupipara is composed of several families of the queerestflies in the order. The insects of the families N ycteribiidae, Streblidaeand Hippoboscidae are all ectoparasites on warm blood vertebrates. Allof the Streblidae and N ycteribiidae of which the life history is known,are parasitic on bats and some of them are quite probably the carriersof bat diseases. In the family Hippoboscidae we find the genera Lynchia,Hippobosca and Ornithomyia, mentioned as carriers of disease, and alsoMelophagus to which belongs M. OvmU8 Linnaeus, the sheep tick. Theflies of the genus Lynchia which carry pigeon malaria, live almostexclusively on pigeons. They deposit larvre in the pigeon houses; theselarvre become puparia in an hour. Hippobosca is composed principallyof species parasitic on mammals, one of which is thought to carry thegall sickness of horses in South Africa. The females deposit larvre whichare incapable of movement. . They slowly darken until the pupariumresembles a seed. Lipoptena cervi is parasitic on deer. MelophagusOvVnU8. which is wingless, lives on sheep, sometimes proving to be aniniportant pest. This insect may be eradicated by giving two thoroughdippings at !4-day intervals in lime-sulphur-arsenic solution or in standardcoal tar-creosote or cresol dips, or nicotin solution (Imes).Outside of the stable fly and sheep tick, control measures for bitingflies are not well worked out. Of course the primary essentials areprotection of the animals from the bites of the flies and prevention ofbreeding.REFERENCESBishopp, F. C., 1913.-The Stable Fly. G. S. Dept. Agric., Farmers' Bull.540. Available for free distribution.Graybill, 1I. W., 1914.-Repellents for Protecting Animals from theAttacks of Flies. U. S. Dept. Agric., Bull. 131.Hindle, Edward, 1914.-Flies in Relation to Disease. Blood-SuckingFlies. Cambridge Dniv. Press.Imes, Marion, I9I7.-The Sheep Tick and Its Eradication by Dipping.U. S. Dept. Agric., Farmers' Bull. 79B. Available for free distribution.Jobbins-Pomeroy, A. W., I9I6.-Notes on Five North American BuffaloGnats of the Genus Simulium. U. S. Dept. Agric., bull. 3!!9.Malloch, J. R., I9I4.-American Black Flies or Buffalo Gnats. U. S.Dept. Agric., Bur. Entom., Tech. Bull. ~6.Marlatt, C. L., I910,-The Horn Fly. U. S. Dept. Agric., Bur. Entom.,Circ. 115.Patton, W. S., and Cragg, ~. W .• 1915.-A Textbook of Medical Entomology.