150 DE. J. KIRK ON THE TSETSE ELY OF TROPICAL ArEICA. 



as of late the statements brouglit forward regarding it have been 

 called in question by men of science. 



In 1850 G-ordon Gumming drew attention to this subject*. He 

 says that the natives tried to dissuade bim from going furtber in 

 the direction of tbe " Limpopo," telling bim that he would lose all 

 bis cattle by a fly called tbe " Tsetse." In tbis region, I may re- 

 mark, Captain Harris bad, in 1837, marked on tbe map a " country 

 abounding in flies destructive to cattle." Eegardless of the 

 double caution, Gordon Gumming advanced, and gives tbe follow- 

 ing as bis experience : — " The next day one of my steeds died of 

 tbe 'Tsetse.' He bad been bitten under tbe mountain-range 

 lying to the south of the fountain. Tbe bead and body of the 

 poor animal swelled up in a most distressing manner before be 

 died ; bis eyes were so swollen tbat be could not see, and in dark- 

 ness be neigbed for bis comrades who stood feeding before bim." 



Major Yardon next gave bis experience. He bad hunted about 

 tbe same time and in tbe same region as Gordon Gumming. His 

 statements regarding the fly are much more precise ; and to bim 

 we are also indebted for tbe first specimens brought to Europe, 

 whicb enabled Professor Westwood to describe tbe insect and de- 

 termine its affinities f. Major Yardon furtber performed a most 

 interesting experiment. Aware of tbe existence in certain dis- 

 tricts of tbe Becbuana country of plants poisonous to cattle (sucb 

 as tbe " Konwhane," a species of Lasiosiplion) , and suspecting 

 that some sucb herb might be the cause of tbe mischief ascribed 

 by tbe natives to tbe fly, be put the matter to the test by riding 

 bis borse into a " Tsetse "-infested part, without dismounting or 

 allowing tbe animal to feed ; tbe result was tbe death of the borse. 



In a letter to Professor "Westwood (loc. cit.) be says, " I fancy 

 it is not met witb south of tbe tropic of Gapricorn ; it is usually 

 found on hills, plains being free from it. I have ridden up a hill 

 and found the " Setse " increasing at every step, till at last forty 

 or fifty would be on my borse at once. Tbe specimens you saw 

 cost me one of tbe best of my stud. He was stung by some ten 

 or a dozen of them, and died in twenty days." 



Mr. Oswell, one of tbe discoverers of Lake Ngami, and one of 

 tbe first to reacb tbe marsby regions of Gentral Africa on the 

 Upper Zambezi, records what he observed regarding tbe " Tsetse " 



* Five Years of a Hunter's Life in the Far Interior of South Africa, ii. 

 pp. 210, 227. 



t Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, Dec. 10, 1850, and Ann. 

 Nat. Hist. 2nd ser. x. p. 138. 



