32 THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF VETERINARY SCIENCE AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY [ II, I

Mitzmain [1913], in the Philippines, mentions trapping of Tabanids with
tanglefoot applied to the trunk and larger branches of the rain trees which form
their favourite resting places.

A measure which has been extolled by a number of workers, e.g., Portchinsky
[1915], is the pouring of some oil, such as kerosine, on the surfaces of pools usually
frequented by these flies. The Tabanidæ have the habit of skimming, while on the
wing, the surface of pools and taking up water with their proboscis, so that, if the
pools were oiled, the flies would have some of the oil clinging to the underside of
their bodies when they came in contact with the water, and this would eventually
cause their death.

In an article which has been seen only in abstract, Hewitt [1920], in Canada,
states that the results of experiments with a small wire insectary used as a trap for
Tabanidæ indicated that such a trap might be of great practical value in the
vicinity of cattle yards. In the absence of further details, it is not possible to
express an opinion upon the extent to which such traps could be used with advan-
tage for combating Tabanids in this country.

The use of dummy animals has been suggested by certain workers for attract-
ing tsetses and also certain species of Stomoxys and Tabanids, and their use is claimed
to have yielded a notable degree of success ( Journ. Dept. Agric. Union S. Africa, 7,
pp. 11 and 20 ; 1923).

                                           (c) Traps for Tsetse-flies.

Although Africa and certain parts of Arabia are the only localities where
tsetses are known to occur, a brief consideration of the traps hitherto designed to
combat these flies would be of interest for workers in India, inasmuch as both in
respect of size and feeding habits, the tsetses present some similarity to certain
species of Tabanidæ.

As early as in the year 1914, Zupitza devised the rather fantastic method
of trapping tsetses by means of a sort of armour consisting of a plaited wire-
screen of oxidized metal with a mesh of 1 cm. The trap was donned by a native
and smeared with a sticky material. As one would expect, the trap proved
thoroughly unsatisfactory, only Glossina in the immediate vicinity being caught
by this method.

What, in principle, was the same as the Zupitza trap was recommended by
Shircore [1920] in the course of a correspondence arising out of a suggestion made
by Carpenter concerning the provision of artificial shelters as breeding places for
Glossina. He suggested for this purpose the use of logs smeared with an adhesive
substance and propped up on supports 2 or 3 inches off the ground.