the lltil.lls of Tsetse-flies. 2i:3 



was last year dcscrihcil in the Ann. <^ Maj^. Nut. Hist, a.s 

 Glossina palpalis M'e/linani, Austen (1905) *. 



Altlion^li the district in whicli the tiies were taken was 

 found to contain some game, including eland {Oreas cannn 

 Livingstunei), roan antelope (f/ippotraqus eqninus), kudu 

 {Strejisiceros kudu), the duyker {CephahAophus Griinmi)j^\v\ 

 Speke's tragelaj)h [Limnotragus Spekei), yet I bidieve that 

 human hlood ionns the greater part of their food. This is 

 luidoubtedly true over at least a part of the "belt." Alouf 

 the north bank of the lower Katumbehi Hiver from Esupua 

 to a point half a day's march up the river lies the great 

 Benguclla caravan. route, near which there is little or no 

 game, but over which constantly pass great caravans of half- 

 naked Bantus. At Esu|nia one may see half a dozen of these 

 large caravans camping in one place. It is here that the flies 

 are the most plentiful. They hide in the tall grass and 

 sedges near the river, and also on stones, trunks of trees and 

 vines, and among the leaves of shrubs and bushes on the 

 bank. When a native is sent to the river for water the flies 

 rise from their resting-places as he passes and follow him, 

 seeking for an opportunity to bite. On several different 

 occasions 1 followed natives going to the river to fetch water. 

 One of these 1 saw bitten twice, three were bitten once each, 

 and seven 1 did not see bitten at all. 'J'he Batitus say that 

 the bite is painful, and I noticed that if a fly settled on a 

 porter's back the man generally slapped himself as it began 

 to insert its proboscis. Some of the specimens I took had 

 abdomens greatly distended with blood. The flies do not 

 always remain so close to the river. The first one I saw in 

 Koveniber 11/01 was between three and four hundred yards 

 from the river in thin "desert'^ bush, consisting of Acacia 

 refeciens and other thorny shrubs, which afford practically no 

 shade. Gl. palpalis Wellinani certainly does not share the 

 dislike for huiuan ordure which has been ascribed to its 

 congeners. I have frequently seen it in and around the 

 filthiest native camps at some distance from the river and 

 from shade, where it had evidently gone for the purpose of 

 sucking human blood. The fly bites most viciously durinp- 

 the heat of the day, and, as I have said, goes considerable 

 distances in search of food. It bites less readily in the 

 evening and early morning. The native blacks claim that it 

 occasionally bites at night. The one observation that I 

 made in view of this statement leads me to suspect that it is 



* Ser. 7, vul. xv., April 1905, p. 300. 



