29 



Biting and Noxious Insects other than Mosquitoes 



In the First Rfpurt of these hiboratories it was mentioned that enquiries had been 

 set on foot about biting flies in the Bahr-El-Ghazal province. This yielded very little 

 in the way of specimens though Captain Brakenridge sent some useful notes about 

 Glossina morsitans (vide infra). Eecently the matter was taken up more strongly when 

 Colonel Hunter requested me to draw up a form of enquiry to be sent to Governors of , . 



Provinces and Mamurs all over the Sudan. Too elaborate a series of questions would biting flies 

 have been a mistake and the following simple queries were eventually adopted and 

 distributed together with specimens of Glossina palpalis kindly furnished by Captain Greig. Memorandum 



1. Are there any flies of this sort in your district which are known to bite man? 



2. Are there any flies of this sort in your district which are known to bite animals ? 



3. Do biting flies of any kind exist in your district ? 



4. If you find that any biting fly exists please state : — 



(a) At what time of year it is most prevalent. 



(I) In what kind of country it is found, i.e., in forest land, bush country, near 



water, etc. 

 ((■) If the natives in your district attribute any illness to its bite. 

 (d) If it bites only through the day, or only at night, or both during day and 



night. 

 ((') If it is known to attack wild game. 

 {/) If anything is known about its breeding habits. 

 ((i) If it is numerous or otherwise. 

 A request was also made for specimens, and directions given as to how they should be 

 sent to the laboratories. 



This memorandum has been productive of good results. Flies have been sent from 



IT 1 • ■ • Results 



various parts, we have learned their Arabic names and discovered several interesting points obtained 

 as regards time of prevalence, distribution, etc. One amusing statement, not wholly 

 uninstructive, was made by a certain official on the Upper White Nile, who on receipt of 

 tlie notice replied, " What I am looking for is a species of fly which does not bite. Could I 

 obtain a male and female of such a species I would start immediate breeding operations." 



The Tsetse Fly 



Pride of place may be given to the tsetse fly, of which, as already mentioned, two 

 forms have now been found to exist in the Sudan, i.e., Glossina inorsitaus (Plate I.), the 

 carrier of trypanosomiasis in animals, and G. ^Ja7/j«^j.5 (Plate II.), the agent in the 

 transference of the human trypanosome, believed to be the cause of Sleeping Sickness 

 (vide infra). 



The most interesting fact elicited about G. morsitans was supplied by Major Morant, 

 who found it in Southern Kordofan, sent specimens to the laboratories, and whose note upon 

 it is as follows : 



" The Umbogani bogey seems to be exaggerated by the Arabs, by whom it is naturally 

 very much feared. In the time of the old Government this fly, which appears to be a species 

 of tsetse, infested all the Koalib Hill and extended to Umberembeita. Early in the Mahdia Kordofan^ '" 

 they are said to have died off" completely, and the district was exempt from them until three, 

 or some say, four years ago when they seem to have reappeared at Jebel Ambri, which. 



