1. The ornamentation of the wings in Anopheles funestus, Giles, is variable.

2. Nine distinct arrangements of the wing scales were observed in a random sample of 1,084 individuals.

3. Nearly nine-tenths of the specimens occurred in one group, in which there were dark and pale forms.

4. Variations in wing markings are not solely related to sex or to habitat.

5. The pale form was more prevalent in the wet season and the dark form in the dry season.

6. It is suggested that further study may reveal whether the dark form is the hibernating variety and whether one form is more important as a carrier of malaria than the other, and that these details of wing ornamentation should be recorded in future.

For the mounting of mosquito larvae a fluid medium which combines the qualities of fixing, clearing, and preserving offers many advantages over those of a semi-solid consistency. The objection to using a fluid mountant is the difficulty of rendering the preparation permanent. To overcome this difficulty a search was made for a simple and effective method.

1. Algae are ingested by many species of mosquito larvae and appear to form an important part of the food of these larvae.

2. The algae are digested in the gut, but the digestion is often by no means complete.

3. It is quite possible that the rôle played by the algae may also be assumed by other forms of organic matter, for larvae may be reared to maturity in solutions containing little or no algae.

4. Different algae react differently in the guts of the larvae, some being noticeably digested and some hardly at all.

5. Those algae which are digested the most are easily stained and are forms of low osmotic pressure.

6. Cytological investigation revealed no character that indicates that algae are an especially nutritious diet.

This work was carried out at the Farnham House Laboratory of the Imperial Institute of Entomology, Buckinghamshire, under the guidance of Dr. P. A. Buxton, to whom my thanks are due.

An effort to ascertain the specific status of described Australian Calliphorine flies was started in 1922, when some conceptions of synonymy gathered from various sources were published by Johnston & Hardy. In 1925, Patton gave his opinions concerning the identity of the species after examining many types in Europe. In 1926, I drew attention to discrepancies that were at that time apparent in Patton's views, and gave further information that had accrued during the three previous years. In 1927, Bezzi revised the genus over a wide area, and his paper covering the Indo-Australian species is the outstanding contribution in so far as many genera previously proposed are reviewed. There followed in the same year a paper by Malloch on specific characters, which paper is highly suggestive and constructive, but unfortunately some of the species of earlier authors are incorrectly determined; and, indeed, this defect is noticeable throughout the series of papers referred to above, many names being perhaps wrongly placed as synonyms or species needlessly redescribed as new.

I am indebted to the Imperial Institute of Entomology and to Mr. F. Laing, of the British Museum, for submitting to me for classification a small collection of Thysanoptera from Dr. J. Davidson, of the Waite Agricultural Research Institute, Glen Osmond, South Australia. The specimens reached me well preserved in alcohol, in tubes each labelled “S. Australia, Adelaide, month-1929, Dr. J. Davidson, from lucerne, rose-bushes, etc.” All measurements in this paper are in μ.

The following investigation of the development of Laccifer lacca, Kerr, was carried out in the Department of Zoology, Lucknow University, under the supervision of Professor K. N. Bahl, D.Sc, D.Ph., to whom I am much indebted for the extensive facilities enjoyed in his laboratory.

The galleries of the bark-beetles are as a rule such characteristic features of the different species that sometimes these are more easily recognised by the shape of their galleries than by their own structure, as, for example, in the case of the two pine-beetles, Blastophagus piniperda and B. minor, in which the distinguishing features of the insects cannot be discerned without the help of a good pocket-lens. But, on the other hand, the galleries of many species are subject to a certain amount of variation and show typical modifications which are responses to various external factors, such as the size of the trunk or of the branches, the thickness of the bark, and the orientation of the trunk, viz., whether the tree is standing or felled.

None of the species so far described under Urosigalphus is known to me, but Cameron's Rhyssosigalphus is clearly a synonym of Ashmead's interesting genus.

Szépligeti (Genera Insectorum, fasc. 22b, 1904, p. 90) synonymised Urosigalphus under Sigalphus, Latr. (i.e., Triaspis, Hal.); I do not know what authority he had for his action, which was ignored by subsequent writers (Crawford, 1907, 1914; Cushman, 1922).

Of the four moths dealt with in this paper, three are known to damage coconut palms in Celebes, and the fourth behaves similarly in the Gold Coast. Three of the species are here described as new. The opportunity has been taken to figure the larvae as well as the imagines of the Celebes species, and to include figures of Orthocraspeda catenatus, Snellen, of which two larvae and a pair of imagines were received with the other Celebes material. The short descriptions of the larvae are taken, with slight modifications, from Mr. A. Reyne's letter which accompanied the specimens. All the material concerned has been generously presented to the British Museum (Natural History) by the Director of the Imperial Institute of Entomology.

1. Fly rounds and reconnaissances about Sambala have indicated the following types of fly community: (a) Compact “female centres” characterised by frequent passage of game, and showing high apparent female percentage and often apparent concentration of fly; (b) “spread centres” over larger areas believed to be comparable in function to true, compact “female centres”; (c) “male areas” spread over large areas of Berlinia-Brachystegia and sometimes other kinds of wooding, where the apparent female percentage is low; (d) areas where fly is scarce.

2. Investigation of these phenomena by field experiments and other methods has led to the conclusion that the “female centres” and “spread centres” are most probably feeding-grounds of fly, and that the “male areas” are its home.

3. It is difficult to draw reliable conclusions from fly-rounds on the apparent variations of fly numbers in time, in relation either to season or to movements of game.

The distribution and bionomics of the species of Phlebotomus in N.W. Persia are described.

The distribution of Leishmania in this area and the possible relations of sandflies to it are discussed.

Observations on the quite distinct and well-defined hours of activity of the different species are recorded.

P. chinensis is recorded from Persia for the first time.

The diagnosis of the female of P. caucasicus is established.

P. wenyoni, sp. n., P. kandelaki, Schour., and P. perniciosus var. tobbi, var. n., are described.

A simple method of breeding sandflies while travelling is described.

P. perniciosus var. tobbi was infected by feeding on cultures of L. donovani of Mediterranean origin.

P. caucasicus was infected by feeding on cultures of L. tropica.

The following remarks are based chiefly on the revision of the East Indian species of the subgenus Mansonioides just published by J. Bonne-Wepster (Geneesk. Tijd. Ned.-Ind., Deel 70, pp. 940–966, Sept. 1930). A re-examination of the British Museum collection in the light of Mrs. Bonne's work has shown that certain points need elaboration or correction.

It is being recognized that for a satisfactory solution of many of the wider problems of Applied Entomology, a study of insect ecology is of paramount importance. It is expected that a knowledge of the factors which influence distribution and abundance of insects will arm economic entomologists better in their warfare against pests. Just recently, Lathrop (1923), Shelford (1927), Buxton (1929), Uvarov (1929), Gryse (1929), and others have shown the importance of meteorological phenomena affecting the development, distribution, and activities of insects. Although our knowledge of the two factors so far studied—temperature and humidity—is far from being complete, still the results so far obtained have proved to be of considerable value. Indeed, instances of the practical application of such knowledge are already available. From his studies on the effects of temperature on household insects, Howard (1896) has shown that cold storage provides an effective control of these pests. Pierce (1916) has correlated the relative advance and retreat of the fall army-worm, Laphygma frugiperda, S. & A., with changes in temperature. He maintains that a proper fixation of the zone of effective temperatures may make it possible to alter the sowing time of winter crops to avoid damage from this insect. Barber (1925) explains the decrease of the European corn-borer, Pyrausta nubilalis, Hübn., during certain years on the basis of adverse environmental conditions. A. Howard (1921), from his observations in India, states that there exists a definite relationship between termite activity and soil temperature.