THE MAINTENANCE OF A LABORATORY COLONY OF GLOSSINA MORSITANS SINCE 1959.

The authors present the results of the first successful attempt to rear a single-line colony of Glossina in the laboratory. Starting with 43 adults (21 males and 22 females) which emerged in the laboratory from G. morsitans pupae from Mozambique, this colony has been maintained under controlled environmental conditions at the Lisbon Institute of Tropical Medicine since 1959.Guinea-pigs are used as the sole food source, and are offered to the tsetse flies daily for six days each week.The colony kept developing (although not in constant progression) without the introduction of any new elements from September 1959 to September 1963. From that time, the pupae were kept in damp sand throughout the 24 hours during which they are formed. This technique led to highly encouraging progress in the growth of the population, the evolution curve of which coincides perfectly with that of an ideal population.