Little is needed by way of introduction, beyond the statement that this paper is really a continuation of a previous one (“The African Species of Culex and allied Genera,” Bull. Ent. Res., Oct. 1911, pp. 241–268). In the present paper a complete synopsis is given of all the African species, with the exception of some of those already tabulated and of the genus Anopheles and its sub-divisions. Through the kindness of Prof. R. Newstead, the author has now been able to examine the types in the collection of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, so that the number of undetermined species has been considerably reduced, and all have now been accounted for except those given as doubtful in the paper referred to.

When I assumed duty in the Nile Province of the Uganda Protectorate, it was known to me that Dr. Shircore had taken a tsetse-fly near Nimule, which he considered to be nearly allied to, but distinct from, G. palpalis. I had been asked to take an early opportunity of examining the haunt of these insects and capturing further specimens. On several occasions I therefore repaired to the site of Dr. Shircore's find, and along some two miles of the bank succeeded in taking a large number of Glossina. These did not appear to differ in any noticeable degree from those one had seen on Lake Victoria, or on the smaller rivers of this Province, and as Dr. Shircore had reported that he had frequently seen the fly in question with the larger palpalis, especially near Nimule, I came to the conclusion that I had been very unfortunate in not taking a single specimen.

In Northern Nigeria the dry season begins in October, and ends in March. During this period practically no rain falls, and the highest temperatures of the year are recorded during the day, whilst the lowest annual temperatures occur during the night at this season. A short tornado season occurs at the beginning and end of the dry weather. In the case of Zungeru, where my experiments were carried out, the following is the meteorological return for the year 1910:—

Bole is a small town situated just north of the 9th parallel N. lat. and about 15 miles from the Black Volta, which forms the western boundary of the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast.

Among various insects collected on behalf of the Entomological Research Committee by Dr. R. W. Gray in Southern Nigeria, a large number of minute Collembola, all belonging to the same species, and taken at Benin City on June 9th, 1910, have been sent to me for identification. So little is known of Tropical African Collembola, that no surprise could be felt when the insect proved to belong to an undescribed species. Dr. Gray gives no information as to the kind of locality in which this springtail was found, or whether it was in any way injurious. In Europe, however, in recent years, students of economic zoology have come, more and more, to recognise that many species of Collembola feed on living plant tissues1 as well as on the decaying vegetable and animal refuse which forms the usual food of their order. It seems fitting therefore that an account of the insect should be published in this Bulletin, if only to call the attention of entomologists working in Tropical Africa to the scientific interest, and probable economic importance of springtails.

The mechanical conveyance of germs by flies and other insects is of importance not only to the sanitary officer, but to the agriculturist and even to the merchant, for the more the matter is enquired into, the more numerous become the cases in which the origin of fermentation or disease in plants and animals can be traced primarily to this agency. Whatever may be the significance of this question in temperate climates, it is obviously of far greater importance in the tropics, where insects are present in greater profusion throughout all seasons of the year. The subject certainly merits more attention than has yet been bestowed upon it.

The following is a report on the distribution of the tsetse-flies, Glossina palpalis, R. D., and G. morsitans, Westw., in the Lado District, through which I travelled during the first six months of 1911, together with some brief notes on their bionomics. My route and the localities in which the tsetse-flies were seen are shown approximately on the attached map, and owing to the impossibility of showing them accurately—most of the khors and villages over and through which I passed are not marked on the map—a route report is also appended. From December 30th, when I left Shambe, till March 8th, when I reached Meredi, I travelled in company with El Bimb. C. M. Drew, M.C., and from May 2nd, when I arrived at Kajo Kaji till July 2nd, when I reached Rejaf, I was with El Bimb. C. H. Stigand, Inspector of the Rejaf and southern portion of the Lado District, to whom I am indebted for much valuable assistance.

Roubaud has recently recorded (cf. Sleeping Sickn. Bull., I l l, p. 419) that in West Africa G. morsitans is intolerant of high temperatures, as he has found that specimens exposed to 40° C. (104° F.) died within an hour. This species is however adapted to withstand such a temperature in the Luangwa Valley; for during the hot months of October and November the shade thermometer frequently registers from 106° to 108° F., seemingly without any ill results to the tsetses.

The genus Stygeromyia, so far as is at present known, is confined to the Ethiopian Region. The species described below, of which the type is in the British Museum (Natural History), is the third to be discovered.

The identity of Culicoides habereri, Becker, with C. grahamii, Austen, is conclusively established as the result of a comparison of the typical series of the former with the type and para-types of the latter, which are preserved in the British Museum (Natural History). For the opportunity of making this comparison and thus proving the synonymy given above, the present writer is indebted to Dr. Kurt Lampert, of the Königl. Naturaliensammlung, Stuttgart, where the original material of C. habereri is preserved; with the most obliging courtesy Dr. Lampert not only forwarded for comparison the typical series described by Becker, but also presented three para-types of C. habereri to our National Collection.