158 AFRICAN NATURE NOTES chap. 



protect ourselves from them. On the whole trip we saw 

 no buffalo, and only got fairly old spoor of one very small 

 lot on the north bank. I certainly always understood 

 that in a very few years after the buffalo disappeared 

 from any district the "fly" followed suit. All the old 

 hunters up on the Zambesi were agreed on that point, 

 and I recollect George Westbeech ^ saying the same 

 thing. 



This letter conclusively proves that although tse- 

 tse flies continued to swarm along the southern 

 bank of the Chobi to w^ithin a short distance above 

 Kazungula for some years after the buffaloes had 

 ceased to live all the year round in this district (as 

 they used to do up to the early eighties of the last 

 century), and only spent the rainy season there, these 

 insects absolutely disappeared within three years / 

 after the final destruction of the buffaloes by rinder- j 

 pest in 1896. 



Mr. Reid's letter also seems to show that if 

 buffaloes live in great numbers all along the bank 

 of a certain river where tse-tse flies also swarm, and 

 that if through persecution the buffaloes should be 

 driven far up the river at certain times of year, only 

 returning to their old haunts during the rains, when 

 all hunters have left the country, a large proportion 

 of the tse-tse flies do not migrate backwards and 

 forwards with the buffaloes, but remain constantly 

 on the section of the river where they first appeared 

 as perfect insects, not appreciably decreasing in 

 numbers as long as the buffaloes come amongst 

 them periodically, but gradually dwindling in 

 numbers, and at last altogether disappearing within 

 a few years of the final extinction of those animals, 

 in spite of the continued presence of other kinds of 

 game. 



Although Mr. Reid saw no " flies " between 



^ An old Zambesi trader of great experience. 



