THE WILD iFAUNA OF THE EMPIBE ^1 



as of North-Eastern Ehodesia Glossina morsita7is is abundant at 

 the present time, and as regards conditions in the Kasempa Dis- 

 trict of the former territory, I have recently been favoured with 

 some important observations by Mr. E. A. Copeman, District 

 Commissioner and Magistrate. ' It has frequently been observed, ' 

 writes Mr. Copeman, ' that where " fly " has been found to be 

 more than usually numerous, this by no means implies that game 

 will be numerous in the same locality, and vice versd. In the 

 south-west of the District and west of the Kabompo Eiver, where 

 there are several herds of buffalo, no " fly " was to be found, 

 whereas to the east of the river at the same latitude it is found over 

 a large area in the greater part of which there are no buffalo. It 

 has been proved that tsetse from time to time invade new areas 

 and also vacate old ones, but there is nothing to show that this 

 has been consequent on a similar movement on the part of the 

 game. ' 



In the tsetse belts along the southern bank of the Zambesi and 

 Ohobe Elvers, however, and further to the south, conditions are 

 different, or rather were so at the period of which Mr. Selous 

 writes. ' It took many years,' we are told, * before the tsetse had 

 completely died out, but to-day there are neither buffaloes nor 

 tsetse-flies in a part of the country where less than five-and-thirty 

 years ago both literally swarmed. If there is no connection 

 between the buffalo and the tsetse, why is it that, not in one 

 district alone, but everywhere in Africa south of the Zambesi, in 

 countries as far apart as Delagoa Bay and the district of the 

 Victoria Falls, as soon as buffaloes have been completely extir- 

 pated, tsetse-flies have at once diminished very rapidly in numbers, 

 and sooner or later have become completely extinct ? ' ^ Whether 

 Glossina morsitans is at the present time absolutely non-existent 

 in all of the places referred to by Mr, Selous could only be deter- 

 mined by means of a special investigation on the spot. It may, 

 however, be mentioned that while this paper was being written 

 the British Museum received from Major E. J. Lugard, D.S.O., 

 five specimens of the fly taken by him on the south bank of the 

 Chobe Eiver, between a spot opposite Linyanti and the Sunta out- 

 let, in August 1899. Whether the insect was encountered in any 

 great force, or is still to be found in the same place, I am unable 

 to state; but the locality and date of Major Lugard's specimens at 

 any rate prove that on the Chobe Eiver, where in the early 

 'seventies of last century buffaloes existed ' in prodigous numbers 

 . . . all the year round,' the fly had not become ' completely 

 extinct ' so soon after the disappearance of the animals as Mr. 

 Selous believes. Possibly, however, this is an exceptional case, 

 and in any event the general truth of statements backed by the 

 weight of Mr. Selous 's unimpeachable authority must be admitted. 



1 F. C. Selous, the Field, November 9, 1907, p. 835. 



