162 ALLEC4ED HARMLESS TSETSE IN LOANGO. 



hood of the Mosi watunja, or Victoria Falls, of the 

 Zambezi, and had been excellently preserved in a piece 

 of hollow bone, coated with wax. On being taken out 

 they proved to be dried up, it is true, but still supple. 

 The lecturer found among the specimens of Glossina in 

 the Royal Entomological Museum here, two of the 

 Diptera collected by the German Loango Expedition, 

 which were likewise determined as belonging to Glossina. 

 Besides these there proved to be among the Loango 

 insects forwarded by Herr Ealkenstein two more flies 

 preserved in alcohol, which in all respects presented the 

 characteristic features of the true Tsetse (Glossina 

 morsitans). On comparison with the Zambezi form all 

 that was noticeable was a slight diifei-ence in size. 

 While, for instance, the specimen from the first-mentioned 

 locality was 9 mm. in length, with a wing 10 mm. long, 

 the same measurements in the case of the Tsetse from 

 Loango were 10 and 11 mm. respectively. Moreover, in 

 the case of the former the abdominal bands were not so 

 very dark and yet appeared sharply differentiated one 

 from another, while in that of the latter these markings 

 looked darker and less clearly defined. Eor the rest, the 

 two specimens agreed in the .structure of the proboscis, 

 and in the doubly-feathered arista (characteristic of 

 Glossina). The lecturer endeavoured to show this by 

 means of coloured drawings, magnified 100 times, of 

 the heads of the Zambezi and Loango Tsetse. According 

 to information supplied by Herr Ealkenstein, the Tsetse 

 on the Loango Coast appears to be innocuous. No single 

 case has come to light there of the death of a domestic 

 animal caused by fly-bites ; while on the other hand 

 oxen and such-like animals are seen to perish there from 

 other diseases, which admit of ready diagnosis. This 

 agrees with the views first expressed by the lecturer 

 (Beise des Freiherrn v. Barnim in Nord-, Ost-Afrilca, &c., 

 Anhang XLI) as to the, if not absolute harmlessness, 

 still only slightly harmful nature of the Diptera known 

 under the name Surrlta (Sorreta, Surreta, Serott, etc.), 

 as also of the Tsetse-fly in general. Subsequently the 

 traveller E. Marno expressed himself on the question in 

 a precisely similar manner (Beisen im Gehiete des hlauen 

 und weissen Nil, Wien, 1874, p. 283). 



