122 "TSALTSALYA" OR "ZIMB" OF J. BRUCE. 



"Tsaltsalya or Fly."— The fly, of which "Tsaltsalya" 

 is the " Ethiopia " name, and " the true name of this par- 

 ticular fly in Geess," is stated to be confined to a district 

 of " black fat earth," called Mazaga, on the Upper Atbara 

 River, on the confines of the Sudan and Abyssinia. 

 During the rains the cattle had to be taken down to the 

 sandy plains of the Lower Atbara, to escape the fly 

 (Svo ed. (1813), Vol. VII., pp. 300-303). 



The figure of the Tsaltsalya is poor, and represents aa 

 insect with hairy body and legs, but it is apparently 

 meant either for a Fangonia (Family Tabanidse) or a 

 Tsetse. 



" The insect is called Zimb, in modern or vulgar 

 Arabic ; it has not been described by any naturalist. It 

 is in size very little larger than a bee, of a thicker pro- 

 portion, and the wings, which are broader than those of a 

 bee, are placed separate like those of a fly ; they are of 

 pure gauze, without colour or spot upon them ; the head 

 is large, the upper jaw or lip is sharp, and has at the end 

 of it a strong pointed hair of about a quarter of an inch 

 long ; the lower jaw has two of these pointed hairs, and 

 this pencil of hairs, when joined together, makes a resist- 

 ance to the finger nearly equal to that of a strong hog's 

 bristle. Its legs are serrated in the inside ; and the 

 whole covered with brown hair, or down. As soon as this 

 plague appears, and its buzzing is heard, all the cattle 

 forsake their food, and run wildly about the plain, till 

 they die, worn out with fatigue, fright, and hunger. No 

 remedy remains, but to leave the black earth, and to 

 hasten down to the sands of Atbara ; and there they 

 remain while the rains last, this cruel enemy never daring 

 to pursue them farther " (Svo ed.. Vol. VII., p. 305). 



[The description of the size of the insect — " very 

 little larger than a bee, of a thicker proportion," with 

 wings " broader than those of a bee," and placed separate 

 like those of a fly "■ — is suggestive of Pangonia rather 

 than Glossina.^ 



"All the inhabitants of the sea-coast of Melinda, 

 down to Cape Cardefan [s/c], Saba, and the south coast 

 of the Red Sea, are obliged to put themselves in motion, 

 and change their habitation to the next sand in the 

 beginning of the rainy season, to prevent all their st6ck 



