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Research on Phlebotominæ.

In September, Major J. A. Sinton, V.C., I.M.S., worked with Professor Newstead and Miss Evans in the study of a large collection of Phlebotomina made by himself in the north-west province of India. Results of this research will appear in the Annals.

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Identification of Insects.

Collections of insects, ware, received for determination as follows:-

Glossina (367 specimens), from Dr. Schouteden, Belgian Congo Museum. Psychodida, from Major W. F. M. Loughnam, R.A.M.C., Kingston, Jamaica. Acarids, from Captain A. W. N. Pillers.

Publications.

Newstead, R., and Morris, H. M.-Bionomic, morphological and economic report on the acarids of stored grain and flour: Part II. Roy. Soc., Reports of Grain Pests (War) Committee, No. 8.

It was found that wheat and flour are liable, during transit and in storage, to attacks and injury by acarids, of which Aleurobius farine was most commonly encountered. It was established that mites will not injure wheat and flour in which the moisture content is eleven per cent, or under, whatever the temperature may be. The morphology and hionomics of the infesting mites were studied, and experí- ments carried out with regard to methods of destruction.

Newstead, R., and Morris, H. M.-Report on the non-parasitic or forage mites; with an appendix by W: N. Pillers: Clinical notes on the non-parasitic or forage mites. Roy. Soc., Reports of Grain Pests (War) Committee, No.-8. An account of the family Tyroglyphide, with clinical notes derived from veterinary experience.

Blacklock, B., and Carter, H. F. On the results obtained from surveys for breed- ing places of tree-hole mosquitoes in Liverpool and neighbourhood." Ann. Trop. Med. and Parasit. Vol. XIV, p. 115.

(1) In a series of six surveys, five in the Liverpool district and one in Delamere Forest, Cheshire, two thousand five hundred trees were examined up to a height of twenty-five feet for breeding-places of Anopheles plumbeus and Ochlerotatus geniculatus.

(2) A total of eighty-three holes and fiftylone forks and clefts containing water were found.

(3) Sixteen breeding-places of A. plumbeus and nineteen breeding-places of 0. geniculatus were discovered; larvæ of 4. plumbeus and 0. geniculatus were associated on thirteen occasions. Breeding-places of A. plumbeus occurred in 064 per cent. of the trees examined, and in 192 per cent. of holes containing water. (4) Up to a height of six feet from the ground, thirty-nine places containing water, four breeding-places of A. plumbeus and six of 0. geniculatus were found; above six feet, ninety-five places containing water, twelve breeding-places of A. plumbeus, and thirteen of 0. geniculatus were found.

(5) Elms, horse-chestnuts, and sycamores provided the great majority of the breeding places; oaks, Spanish chestnuts and firs provided no breeding-places and very few holes containing water.

SIR,

I have, &c.,

Enclosure 4 in No. 2.

ROBERT NEWSTEAD, Professor of Entomology.

DEPARTMENT OF Medical and GENERAL ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY.

1st May, 1921. I HAVE the honour to submit a report on the work done by the members of the staff of this Department for the half-year 1st November, 1920, to 30th April,-

1921.

Lectures and Demonstrations,

A full course of instruction was given to the eight students attending this School during the Lent term for the Diploma in Tropical Medicine. A special course was also given to the ten veterinary students attending the post-graduate course in Veterinary Parasitology for the Diploma in Veterinary Hygiene.

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Special courses were also given to the undergraduates in the Zoology Depart- ment, and also to Captain H. E. Shortt, I.M.S., who has been appointed to the Chair of Entomology, in the Department of Tropical Medicine, University of Calcutta.

Staff.

In February, Mr. H. F. Carter, F.E.S., who had been a member of the staff since 1910, resigned his post of Lecturer in Entomology in order to take up the post of Malariologist in Ceylon.

RESEARCH.

Ceratopoginine Midges of the Gold Coast.

Dr. A. Ingram, of the West African Medical Service, and a co-worker with Dr. J. W. S. Macfie, Pathological Laboratory, Accra, has been working jointly with Mr. H. F. Carter in the preparation of a monograph of the blood-sucking midges of West Africa (vide Publications).

Ship-borne Mosquitoes.

By request of the Ministry of Health, an inquiry was undertaken into the occurrence of mosquitoes in ships arriving in Liverpool from West African ports. Twenty-two vessels were examined, the total number of examinations being twenty- nine. The results of these examinations were negative, except in one instance. A report was drawn up and submitted to the Ministry of Health in March.

Rat-Flea Investigation.

This investigation was undertaken to determine the distribution of the various species of fleas occurring on rats in the Pert and City of Liverpool, with special reference to those species responsible for the transmission of plague from rat to rat and from rat to man. A full report is in course of preparation.

Isle of Man Investigation.

With the co-operation of the Liverpool Public Health Department and the Isle of Man authorities, an investigation was undertaken by Dr. Blacklock and Mr. Carter into the occurrence and distribution of anophelines in the Isle of Man. The three British species were found, including the tree-hole breeding A. plumbeus, and a report was furnished to the Public Health Department (see also under Publications).

Identification of Insects.

Collections of insects were received for determination as follows:-

Acarids and Tyroglyphids, from the Board of Agriculture.

Acarids, from Captain A. W. N. Pillers.

Material said to contain redworms, from Dr. Gann, Belize, British Honduras,

Publications.

Newstead, R.On the genus Phlebotomus, Part IV. Bull. Ent. Res. Vol. XI,

p. 305. The author states that these notes may be regarded chiefly as materials towards the study of the geographical distribution of this group of blood-sucking midges. The paper includes the description of a new species: Phlebotomus signatipennis. Newstead, R., and Evans, A. M.-New Tsetse flies (Glossina) from the Belgian

Congo. Ann. Trop. Med. and Parasit. Vol. XV, p. 95.

An account of two new tsetse flies belonging to the " Fusca Group." Newstead, R., and Sinton, J. A.—On a collection of Pappataci flies (Phlebotomus)

from India. Ann. Trop. Med. and Parasit. Vol. XV, p. 103.

One of the species described," namely, Phlebotomus sergenti, Parrot, was recorded for the first time from India. Blacklock, B., and Carter, H. F.-Observations on Mosquitoes in the Isle of Man.

Ann. Trop. Med. and Parasit. Vol. XV, p. 73.

Larvae of both Anopheline and Culicine mosquitoes were found, species of the former being A. bifurçâtus, A. maculipennis, and A. plumbeus. The paper was illustrated by a map showing the distribution of mosquitoes in the Isle of Man, and by eleven photographs.