MAN'S ENEMY : THE TSETSE 23 



illness during the period when the trypanosomes are 

 found chiefly in the blood-stream is the " Gambia 

 fever" of the earlier observers. It is when the 

 parasites reach the spinal fluid and brain that the 

 sleepiness characteristic of the later stages of the 

 dread disease becomes noticeable. Throughout the 

 progress of the infection, some of the trypanosomes 

 pass into certain of the internal organs of the host, 

 notably the lungs and spleen. In these backwaters 

 of the blood-stream the parasites lose their elongate 

 form and flagella, and become rounded. These oval 

 or rounded bodies are known as latent bodies, and 

 in process of time develop again into flagellate 

 trypanosomes. The life-history of the trypanosome 

 in its host may now be briefly described. 



THE TRAGEDY OF THE GLOSSINA AND THE MAN ^f- 



On the West Coast of Africa, many small settlements 

 of white men engaged in the rubber, palm-nut, and 

 coconut industries may be found. Apart from the 

 settlements, there are many isolated outposts of men, 

 some working in small parties of three or four, others 

 singly endeavouring to wrest some of the rich spoils 

 of the tropical African forest for the use of man. 

 Many are the perils to be overcome by them, and 

 not the smallest is the one that can be least 

 guarded against, and from which Nature " red in 

 tooth and claw " affords no defence. Lurking 

 under rotting leaves, among banana roots, and in 

 the soft shaded soil near the streams, the parent 

 tsetse flies drop small maggots, or larvae, which 

 rapidly become very like the foetid surroundings in 



