ZULU MEDIC'IXE AND MEDICIXE-MEN. 19 



coleopterist at Cape Town. All the iiiformati(3n that these 

 gentlemen could impart was that the insects appeared to be a 

 species of an ordinary dung-beetle (Ap ho dins margin i- 

 collis Har.). 



An old Zulu doctor declared to me that he was w^ell 

 acquainted with three diiferent varieties or species of the human 

 parasite : one, the commoner greenish-black ; another, which 

 he called " white " fi-om its having a white mark on the back ; 

 and a third of a dark brown colour, with faintly defined spots 

 about the thorax and sides. 



Tlie symptoms, as far as my experience goes, seem to be of 

 the nature of intense nervous irritation, similar to that some- 

 times attributed to worms — -gnawing pains, fits and, as the 

 natives assert, and, I think, with some probability, also 

 madness. 



The natives attach to these parasites many fanciful ideas; for 

 instance, after the expulsion of the beetles from the bowels 

 they must be immediately killed lest they take to flight, in 

 which case dire calamity w^ould result, their host following 

 suit, himself " flyii^g " about the veld and hills mad. 



The strangest circumstance connected with the iKhamhhi is 

 the assertion, universally made by the natives, that it exists 

 alive in the imago condition in the host. One covdd under- 

 stand the larva3 of a beetle existing in the human intestine, 

 just as the larvas of certain flies have been occasionally found, 

 but for the whole metamorphosis to take place in the intestine 

 requires strong evidence in order to be believed. 



In weighing the evidence it should be remembered that it is 

 an indispensable formality in the treatment of the iKhamhhi 

 that the stools be passed, never on the grass or in the bush, but 

 only either into a broken pot or upon a specially cleared gravelly 

 space, for it is imperative on the patient that he immediately kill 

 the beetle on expulsion. If it is preferred to regard the native 

 story as a delusion it is difficult to explain why the beetles are 

 only found after certain specifics have Ijeen administered to 

 the sick person. 



It was desired that the larva? of the beetle might be found ; 



