ZOOLOGY 413: 



to be fairly sickened. The smell resembles that of foul drains or of a. 

 decaying corpse. 



As regards the Diptera, the house-fly is a nuisance in all the cattle- 

 keeping countries. There are gad-flies and horse-flies of large size which 

 probe horse and man with their long probosces, draw blood, and cause 

 violent irritation. There is another fly which, as in British Central Africa, 

 inserts its eggs in the human skin, and these eggs duly produce grubs 

 at tlie bottom of a terrific boil. If unattended to, the grub when he is 

 sufiiciently large emerges himself from the top of the boil and turns into- 

 a jjupa. He is, however, generally squeezed out by the enraged European 

 or native before he is ready to go. 



Several kinds of mosquito are present, including two or more of the 

 Anopheles genus. This, as my readers are now aware, is the kind of 

 mosquito which transmits the germs of malarial fever either from the 

 blood of persons infected or, as I sometimes think, from marsh water, 

 mosquitoes being very fond of drinking. Midges and sand-flies are trouble- 

 some in some places, especially near forest and river banks, or on moist 

 hillsides. One of these midges is rather large and has a black bod v. 

 It draws a little bead of blood to the surface as it probes the skin. This- 

 abominalile little pest is particularly characteristic of West Africa, but it 

 is found in the District of Busoga and in the forested regions of Uganda, 

 and Toro. From the waters of Lake Victoria, as from those of Nyasa, 

 rise up clouds of kungu flies, which are also a minute s^^tecies of gnat. 

 The kungu fly has a soft little body, scarcely as large as that of a flea, 

 with gauzy wings. During the rainy season (generally) this gnat, which 

 lias been hatched in the broad waters of the lake, rises from the water 

 in clouds of millions, one might almost say billions. Minute as the 

 creature is, it leaves the waters of the lake in such numbers that its- 

 masses are mistaken, when seen from a distance, for veritable cloudlets. 

 When the wind drives these creatures upon you, they will drift in through 

 your house or tent until they cover floor, furniture, dinner, and documents 

 with a thin layer of pale yellow insect atoms, not unlike the aphis in 

 appearance. The natives of Uganda, as of Nyasaland, collect these flies- 

 by means of mat screens, lirush them up, mash them up into cakes, fry 

 them, and eat them with gusto. It is perhaps scarcely necessary to add 

 that the natives of all parts of the Uganda Protectorate eat the flying 

 termites ("white ants") with enjoyment. 



Flies of the genera Glossina (a genus of which the tse-tse is a member)- 

 exist in the Uganda Protectorate. They have been caught there by jMr 

 Jackson and myself, not to mention many other collectors. But eithei 

 the true tse-tse is absent from all parts of t lie Protectorate or it is unable 

 to obtain there the germs of fever which it is the agent in introducing- 



