THE CAPE BUFFALO 95 



trypanosomes, which having been sucked in through 

 the hollow proboscis, develop freely in the stomach 

 of the fly. The trypanosomes increase rapidly, 

 multiplying by longitudinal division ; they assume two 

 forms, having either thick bodies and protoplasm 

 taking a blue stain with laboratory reagents, or else 

 very slender bodies and protoplasm that cannot be so 

 stained. The fly next communicates the disease to 

 any tame cattle on which it happens to feed ; these, 

 however, cannot tolerate the presence of the 

 trypanosomes, and eventually die exhausted. It 

 has often been noticed that where the wild 

 buffaloes have been exterminated the tse tse has 

 vanished also : these oxen act as a reservoir 

 whence the tse tse (itself harmless) draws its 

 supply of trypansomes. Together with several 

 other wild animals, the buffalo, though acting as host 

 for the parasite, is itself immune from the disease. 

 Thus the presence of big game by favouring trypano- 

 somiasis (or " nagana ") may hinder colonisation by 

 means of cattle ; another instance of the indirect 

 influence of the African buffalo. 1 



Finally, the buffalo is an agent in disseminating 

 diseases borne by ticks. These ticks are eight- 

 legged spider-like creatures which infest the long 



1. Happily the presence of big game in a district does not necessarily 

 imply the presence of the tse tse; thus it is now absent from the Transvaal 

 (having disappeared with the rinderpest) though a considerable amount 

 of game still exists in the Reserves. The crazy measure to check nagana 

 recently advocated the extermination of big game will receive little 

 support from practical men. 



