148 First Report on Ecoiioinic Zoology. 



placed on the list of game to be absolutely protected. I, therefore, wish 

 to bring to your notice my observations on the Tsetse-fly and the Buffalo, 

 the correctness of which are, I believe, borne out by the experience of 

 Mr. George Gray when travelling through a fly country in 1899 and also 

 by information obtained from native sources. 



The Tsetse-fly has always abounded in districts where Buffalo were 

 numerous, and since the almost total destruction of Buffalo by rinderpest 

 these flies have not disappeared, although, perhaps, not so numerous as 

 formerly. The bite of the insect, however, appears to have become much 

 less deadly to domestic animals, and stock and dogs not only survive the 

 bites for a much longer period than formerly, but in many cases suffer no 

 ill at all. 



This has been my personal experience, and I think I am correct in 

 saying Mr. Gray's is similar. 



The natives say that now the Buffalo are dead the Tsetse-fly no longer 

 kills stock, but of course natives are notoriously careless and loose in their 

 statements. It is a fact also that in many places where Buffalo have 

 become extinct the Tsetse-fly has also vanished ; this is the case in parts of 

 Sebungwi and Zankie districts. As there are large fly districts in northern 

 Rhodesia I call your attention to these facts, as it appears to me that the 

 protection of the Buffalo and the Tsetse-fly are identical, and I would 

 doubt if the benefit accruing from the preservation of the former will 

 compensate for the disadvantages arising from the existence of the latter. 



I am, etc., 

 Val Gielgud. 



British Museum (Nat. Hist.), 



Cromwell Road, London, S.W., 

 24«i June, 1901. 



To Sir Clement Ll. Hill, K.C.M.G., C.B. 



Sir, — I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter 

 of the 15th instant, enclosing a copy of a letter from Mr. Val Gielgud 

 with reference to Tsetse-fly and Buffalo. 



In accordance with your request that I should furnish the Marquess of 

 Tjansdowne with some observations on the subject I would wish, first of 

 all, to draw your attention to the powers given by Article IV. of the 

 "dispositions" adopted by the Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the 

 preservation of African wild animals, May 1st, 1900. The final clause of 

 that article was inserted on my suggestion with a view to such a case as 

 that reported by Mr. Gielgud, and gives power to dispense with the 

 principles agreed upon " dans un interet superieur d'administration." 



It is, therefore, within the provisions of the agreement signed by the 

 Plenipotentiaries for the Government to authorise the British South Africa 

 Company to destroy Buffalo, in order to protect domesticated cattle from 

 disease, 



A question, however, of a very serious nature arises as to whether there 

 is sufficient ground for concluding that the parasite of the blood, which 

 is introduced by the bite of the Tsetse-fly into domesticated animals, is 

 specially and ahundantly harboured in the blood of the wild Buffalo. 



The theory is held that the parasite {Herpetomonas nagance) of the 

 blood is comparatively harmless to wild indigenous forms, such as Buffalo, 



