122 A TOUR AMONG THE ISLANDS 



merely of a few rocks and sand, with scanty vegetation. 

 Except for one Enswa-swa and weaver birds and the 

 " Nightingale flycatcher," there was little to note about 

 the fauna. 



The tiny islet named Kawaga was visited next ; merely 

 a flat topped rock about ten yards in diameter, rising 

 sheer out of the water and about three feet above it. 

 All round the edge grows the " Omuvuvumye " shrub, 

 but nothing else save grass. Even this tiny islet had 

 its entomological feature ; for, feeding on the leaves of 

 the only kind of bush were great numbers of black larvae 

 of a small Chrysomehd ^ beetle, brown and black. More 

 interesting still was their complete absence from a pre- 

 cisely similar but slightly smaller rock about twenty 

 yards away, and from a third a little further away still. 

 I visited Mtiomu again, but could not find any of these 

 beetles or their larvae on the " Omuvuvumye " shrub there. 



On March 6th I visited Masovwi, a diminutive neighbour 

 of Dyavodemu, which, measuring about 200 by 50 yards 

 and lying very low, is formed of grey rock and has a good 

 deal of sand on it. The southern shore is marshy, and 

 fringed for half its length with a dense thicket of ambatch, 

 the other half is open, with lush grass and flowers like a 

 small sunflower. The centre of the island is piled with sand, 

 on which grow thick bushes of " Ekinsambwe," and in 

 which a batch of crocodile's eggs were found, the crocodile 

 also being seen. On the whole, the vegetation was not 

 varied, and there was no " Oluzibaziba." 



Birds were represented by a heron, many cormorants, 

 and moorhens, with weavers, sunbirds and, since the islet 

 was very small, the " Nightingale flycatcher." Nephilu was 

 absent, and Olossina, rather to my surprise, was caught at 

 the rate of 2*1 per boy-hour. Pupae were found, so that 

 Masovwi is the smallest isle on which Glossina is known to 

 breed. 



^ Mesoplatys ochroptcra. 



