. Animal parasites and human disease. Medical parasitology; Insects as carriers of disease. 468 OTHER BLOOD-SUCKING FLIES male has a proboscis equally well fitted for piercing skin and sucking blood, and the male of at least one African species is known to bite as well as the female. Most if not all of the spe- cies are nocturnal or become active at twilight only. In Corsica, for instance, it is said to be very difficult to capture these midges except for about one hour after sunset. During the daytime they remain hidden away in dark corners, cellars, crevices of rocks, etc. Life History. (Fig
. Animal parasites and human disease. Medical parasitology; Insects as carriers of disease. 468 OTHER BLOOD-SUCKING FLIES male has a proboscis equally well fitted for piercing skin and sucking blood, and the male of at least one African species is known to bite as well as the female. Most if not all of the spe- cies are nocturnal or become active at twilight only. In Corsica, for instance, it is said to be very difficult to capture these midges except for about one hour after sunset. During the daytime they remain hidden away in dark corners, cellars, crevices of rocks, etc. Life History. (Fig. 212.) — Most species of Phlebotomus lay their eggs in crevices of rocks, in damp cracks in shaded soil, on moist rubbish, in crannies or chinks in cement of dark cellars, between boards in privies and cesspools, and in other similar situations. Most species seem to show a decided preference for crevices in rocks, and find ideal situations in ruins of old stone buildings, crum- bhng rock fences, etc. In Malta Captain Marett found these insects breeding only in such places. In Peru, according to Townsend, the universal type of fence, a structure of rubble and loose rock, provides ideal breed- ing places for the species found there, whereas in Italy and Sicily the earthquake ruins furnish equally ideal breeding places for them (Fig. 213). The sandflies which occur in certain parts of Egypt are believed to breed in damp cracks in the sandy soil, since there seem to be no other suitable places. The eggs are about 40 to 50 in number and are usually all laid at approximately one time, being literally shot out by the female to a distance several times the length of the abdomen. The eggs are viscid and adhere to the surfaces with which they come in contact; it would seem that the peculiar method of ejecting the eggs is a protective adaptation, facilitating their deposition in the farthest reach of a crevice where even the tmy insect itself. Fig. 213. An earthquake ruin in Sicily, af
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