54 BIONOMICS OF GLOSS INA MOESITANS. 



' Monograph.'* In the present volume, however, the space 

 available renders it out of the question to attempt a resume of 

 the published observations on this subject ; while, in view of the ' 

 fact that the Entomological Research Committee (Tropical 

 Africa) is now endeavouring to collect and collate from reliable 

 observers, resident on the spot, accurate statements concerning 

 the bicmomics of G. morsitans,\ there is the less need for a 

 summary based largely on the results of necessarily limited 

 observation, and referring in some cases to an epoch since passed 

 away. A few points may, however, be noted. 



As indicated by the term " fly-belt," originally applied to 

 G. nwrsitans, this species is usually confined to quite definite 

 tracts, often of very limited extent. Within these " belts " the 

 fly sometimes attacks human intruders in such numbers as to 

 have been compared to a swarm of bees. Cover, usually in the 

 shape of large trees with thick undergrowth, open thickets, or 

 scattered, shady trees is essential to the existence of G. morsitans, 

 which, like other species of Tsetse, is never found on the open, 

 sun-scorched veld. Authorities like Mr. F. C. Selous, Sir John Kirk, 

 and others (whose experiences, it should be pointed out, relate to 

 the period before the buffalo was driven northward, or almost 

 exterminated by rinderpest), write of G. morsitans occurring in 

 swarms on the banks and " along the water's edge " of the 

 Zambesi, Chobe, Rovuma and other rivers. Recent observers, on 

 the other hand, such as Dr. L. Sander (in German East Africa), 

 Sir Alfred Sharpe (in Nyasaland), and Mr. S. A. Neave (on the 

 south-west shore of Lake Nyasa, and on the Luangwa River in 

 North-Eastern Rhodesia), lay stress on the fact that, in their 

 experience, G. morsitans evinces a dislike to, rather than a 

 preference for, the immediate vicinity of water, whether river or 

 lake, and is not infrequently met with at a considerable distance 

 (half a mile or so) from any water.| In this connection it is not 

 uninteresting to remember that the original specimens of 

 G. morsitans, found by Vardon and Oswell in 1845, were 

 obtained on the Siloquana Hills in the Northern Transvaal, 

 between the Magalaqueen or Nylstroom River and the Limpopo.§ 



* Cf. E. E. Austen, "A Monograph of the Tsetse-Flies," pp. 6-23 (1903). 



t Sec Bulletin of Entomological Research, Vol. I, Part 2, pp. 147-149, 

 and 152-153 (July, 1910). 



X It may be noted that in Yola Province, Northern Nigeria, Dr. Dalziel 

 has always found G. 7norsitans "out of sight of water," although near to 

 it (see p. 44). 



§ Cf. E. E. Austen, "A Monograph of the Tsetse-Flies," pp. 7, 83-84 

 (1903). 



