Two studies were undertaken to determine the species composition of the phlebotomine sandfly fauna in the Mokolo region, an endemic focus of cutaneous leishmaniasis in northern Cameroon. The preliminary survey conducted in July 1994 using sticky paper traps recorded 843 sandfly specimens, all belonging to the two genera of the Old World sandflies, Sergentomyia and Phlebotomits. The species included S. (Sergentomyia) schzvetzi, S. (Sergentomyia) antennata, S. (Parrotomyia) africana and P. (Phlebotomus) duboscqi: From January 1996 to December 1996, a total of 3241 sandflies were collected using sticky paper traps. In this sampling, six out of the total of eight species recorded were of the genus Sergentomyia. In addition to the species recorded in the preliminary study, S. (S.) bedfordi, S. (Grassomyia) squamipleuris, S. (Sintonius), clydei and P. (Anaphlebotomus) rodhaini were sampled in 1996. This is the first report of S. squamipleuris ir Cameroon. The implications of this study to the transmission of cutaneous leishmaniasis are discussed with particular reference to P. duboscqi, a known vector of the disease in the region.

Evaluation of the use of food-dye marking method for the study of sandfly behaviour was carried out in Baringo district, Kenya. A solution of sucrose and food dye was sprayed as bait on the vegetation around a selected source of flies in an animal burrow.

The extent of marking and distribution of coloured flies within a radius of 200 m was monitored for four nights. The species caught were Sergentomyia clydei, S. schwetzi, S. antennatus, S. squamipleuris, S. bedfordi, S. africanus S. ingrami and S. affinis and the number of coloured flies was 1017. Feeding on the dyed solution labelled 68.9% of the exiting flies near the burrow and 49.2% of the flies caught at the burrow's entrance. The total number of coloured flies caught at a distance of 50, 100, 150 and 200 m was similar toa linear distribution. The greater numbers of S. clydei caught at 200 m and the smaller numbers of S. squamipleuris and S. ingrami trapped between 50 and 200 m deviated from this pattern. These results are discussed as well as the possible application of the method.

Investigations on sandfly breeding sites in Marigat, Baringo District, in Kenya were carried out using a soil incubation technique. Soil samples from natural resting sites were collected, incubated and observed daily for emerging adult phlebotomine sandflies. This technique proved to be the best in the recovery of phlebotomine sandflies from known resting sites. Ten sandfly species were recovered from soil collected from animal burrows and termite hills.

Anthropophilic phlebotomine sandfly, Phlebotomus heischi, has previously been reported in Kenya by Kirk and Lewis (1950). Only one sandfly (female) specimen was reported. The present paper reports and redescribes the male form of P. heischi from Kalawa, Machakos District, Kenya, a region of a recent epidemic focus of visceral leishmaniasis.