The rather numerous Ethiopian species of Dacus (s.l.) are very homogeneousowing to their reduced chaetotaxy and the very simple pattern of the wings; they have no praescutellar bristles, only a scutellar pair, and very often only twosupra-alar bristles, the anterior one being wanting. There are no species with astalked abdomen, or with spinose femora, or with elongated antennae, or withbanded wings.

The following notes and descriptions of African plant-lice are based mainly on part of the large collection I have received from Mr. F. C. Willcocks, made in Egypt since 1907 ; specimens from Mr. Gerald Bedford, collected in the Transvaal and the Cape ;and a small collection of spirit specimens without any colour notes sent to the ImperialBureau of Entomology by Mr. T. J. Anderson from Nairobi, British East Africa.The collection made by Mr. Willcocks in recent years contains some hundreds of specimens, many in alcohol and many beautifully mounted, with field notes giving the living colours of most of the species. This very valuable collection seems to be almost complete for Egypt, for in a recent letter Mr. Willcocks tells me he is unable to find any new species. It contains a number of new insects and some well-known European and American species, including the corn pest, Aphis maidis, Fitch; the green pea louse, Macrosiphum pisi, Kalt.; Macrosiphum sonchi, L. ; the so-called yellow clover aphis of America, Callipterus trifolii, Monell, which is here shown to be the Aphis (Callipterus) ononidis of Kaltenbach; the water-plant aphid of Europe and America, Siphocoryne (Aphis) nymphaeae, L.; and the European willow aphid, Lachnus viminalis, Boyer. The bean-root aphid, Tychea phaseoli, Pass., was also sent and the alate female is now described, as well as the first alate female of Rhizobius, apparently referable to Buckton's Rhizobius graminis. A large number of specimens in Mr. Willcocks' collection yet remain to be examined, including species from Zizyphus, Duranta, artichokes and sycamore figs; also others from Nairobi and some tubes of specimens sent by Dr. Aders from Zanzibar to the Imperial Bureau.

For some time an Anopheline found in the eastern tropics has been accumulatingnames in a most unfortunate way, and as the mosquito has proven to be a very activecarrier of malaria, and I myself am partly to blame for this multiplication of names, it seems fit that I should try to untangle the synonymy.

It was long ago recognised by students of the biology of mosquitos that differences in certain larval characters could be employed for the separation of the CULICIDAE into groups and even for the recognition of individual species. Present-day know-ledge of this subject in relation to the Anopheline group is largely based on the work of Grassi in Italy and James and Christophers in India.

This insect has been known in Grenada since 1898, and has been considered a pest of cacao by planters and others. At the present time thrips probably occurs in all parts of Grenada; at least, I found it or saw the results of its presence in all parts of the island which I visited, and I think I might say in every field. It was, however, only in certain fields, and often in small areas in those fields, that planters considered that damage had resulted. The remarkable thing about the occurrence of thrips is that it appears year after year on the same areas, even on the same trees, though sometimes spreading a little; but a thrips area one year is liable, or certain, to be athrips area every year.

Four undescribed mites from rats are dealt with in the present note, one being a new species of Laelaps (Haemolaelaps), which has a wide distribution, occurring in Ceylon, India, Africa and South America; the three others are larval forms of TROMBIDIIDAE, and they are the first parasites of this kind to be collected in India; my best thanks are due to Dr. Nelson Annandale and Mr. F. H. Gravely for their kindness in sending me these interesting Acari. I must also thank Mr. Engel Terzi for his carefully prepared drawings of these species.

Although it is now some eight years since Neumann described Argas brumpti from specimens collected by Dr. Brumpt in Somaliland, comparatively little is known of its biology. Dr. Brumpt found the ticks living in dust under ledges of rock in the dry bed of a stream frequented by porcupines (1). In British East Africa they havebeen taken by Mr. Scholefield on the Yatta Plains (2) and in the Anglo-EgyptianSudan they have been recorded by the writer as occurring at Gebelein (3). In 1913 Mr. Cunliffe, working in England, obtained eggs and larvae from specimens sent him from British East Africa, but failed to rear the latter (2). Figures of the adult female appear in the Monograph of the Ixodoidea by Nuttall, Warburton, Cooper and Robinson. The egg and unfed larva have been figured and described by Mr. Cunliffe in The Journal of Parasitology (2).

In the Somali country this tick is found in the soil in or around the huts on the outskirts of the coastal towns, showing a predilection for the more squalid and insanitary areas where the indigent Somalis reside. In the interior it frequents most camps of long-standing which are inhabited by human beings and their domestic animals. They are extremely common in the dusty soil surrounding the wells and waterholes. In the waterless Haud and the Nogal Valley they are most frequently found under large trees, especially when these are in isolated positions, as at Ged Aboulrir on the Arori Plain, and afford the only shade for miles to the shepherd and his flock during the heat of the day.

This insect, which is being described by Mr. R. Bagnall under the name of Crypto-thrips brevicollis, sp. n.. has been known to vine-growers in Cyprus for at least ten years, but was believed to be harmless, and the damage it actually effected was attri-buted to other causes, e.g., fungus, unsuitable soil, bad cultivation, or faulty methods of planting. A fortnight's study on the spot during August last convinced me that the injury from which these vines were suffering was not due to any of these causes. A careful examination of roots, leaves, branches, grapes and flowers revealed no fungoid disease. Nor was the attack due to defective soil or imperfect planting or cultivation, as the same characteristic attack was seen on the vines of the Departmental Model Vineyard at Omodhos where the soils had been most thoroughly cultivated and the vines had been carefully planted and skilfully tended. The vine owners whose vines were found thus attacked called the disease “Caraoli,” which means “curling,” a condition brought about by the action of the vine thrips.

I have been asked by the Director of the Imperial Bureau of Entomology to report upon, and, if necessary, describe a thrips which has been discovered to be distinctly injurious to vines in Cyprus. Two curious species of the suborder Terebrantia have been described from vines, viz., Retithrips aegypticus, Marchal, from Egypt and Rhipiphorothrips bicolor (Bagnall) from Ceylon, and Karny and Doctor van Leeuwen Reijnvaan record the following gall-thrips of the suborder Tubulifera from vines in Java; Dolerothrips picticornis, Karny, with an inquiline (Cryptothrips pachypus, Karny) from Vitis papillosa, Gynaikothrips viticola, Karny, from V. lanceolaria anda gall (species unknown) from V. mutabilis.