32 SOME MINUTE ANIMAL PARASITES 



some may go through life without ever imbibing the 

 blood of man. Cattle, large and small, big game 

 such as antelopes, small game, and even birds, serve 

 as feeding-grounds for the adult flies, while decaying 

 roots, leaves, fruits, and other vegetable and animal 

 debris serve as shelter for the pupae. Again, the 

 tsetse does not need to feed so often as do some 

 other insects, such as the Anopheles, that carry 

 malarial parasites, and consequently the risk to 

 human life from the bite of infected Glossinse is 

 rather less than the risk of malaria incurred by 

 inhabitants of mosquito-infested areas. 



Another important point is that the Glossina 

 palpalis and other members of the genus frequent 

 places where there is an abundance of moisture. 

 Some three hundred years ago, the Elizabethan 

 sailors learned in tropical America that a golden 

 rule for avoiding fever and ague was to live as high 

 in the hills as possible and to avoid the streams, and 

 particularly the swampy lands at their margins. 

 The same idea applies in tropical and subtropical 

 Africa to-day for avoiding sleeping sickness. The 

 tsetse is rarely found higher than 4,000 feet, but, 

 intersected as the country is by streams and lakes, 

 there is ample opportunity afforded for the breeding 

 of the Glossina larvae and pupae that develop into 

 the biting flies conveying the dread sleeping sickness 

 from man to man, the fell complaint often called 

 " Uganda's scourge." 



Strenuous efforts have been made by .the British 

 Government to decrease the peril by dealing with 

 the breeding-places and haunts in which the flies 



