Publication Type: | Book |
Year of Publication: | 1964 |
Authors: | H. O. Oldroyd |
Number of Pages: | 324 |
Abstract: | In this book, an account is given of the flies comprising the order Diptera, in which an attempt is made to present a picture of the evolution of the order, the emphasis throughout being laid on flies as living creatures. The first part of it consists of two chapters, occupying 23 pages, in which the general plan of structure and of life-history of the flies of the different groups and families is briefly described. The second part, constituting the main body of the book, consists of 16 chapters, in each of which the peculiarities of habit and anatomical structure displayed by members of a family or group of families are discussed and related to their evolution. Some information is given about all the families, except for some of the small ones containing few species, about which little is known. In the descriptions of the habits of the insects, those that affect man are mentioned incidentally, when they serve the main purpose of the book. In the third part, 21 of the 34 pages are devoted to a chapter on the Diptera that make a considerable impact on man as carriers of disease agents that affect him or his domestic animals or (more briefly) that damage crops. These include mosquitos and their relation to malaria, yellow fever, filariasis (caused by Wuchereria bancrofti and Brugia malayi) and other diseases, Simulium and onchocercosis (caused by Onchocerca volvulus), Glossina and sleeping sickness (caused by Trypanosoma gambiense or T. rhodesiense) and the trypanosomiases of domestic animals, and Musca and its allies. In a two-page table are listed the chief discoveries implicating flies in disease made between 1869 and 1947. In the other two chapters of this part, the swarming habit of flies and the past, present and future of the order are discussed. The book concludes with suggestions for further reading and a bibliography. |