10 MR. ('. W. liOJJLEV OX THE 



would exteiul ov<^r a niuch larger area, and the low-level forest 

 assemblages would extend over thousands of square miles now 

 oidv tenanted by dwarfed trees of species which can survive the 

 long droughts. Consequently the ai-eas of open grass lands so- 

 necessaiy to many species would be restricted. 



All this must have had a profound effect on the wild game of 

 those times and on its distribution. The low forest, for instance, 

 now only survives in a few favoured spots such as the delta of the 

 Lumi Kiver near Taveta, the banks of the Tana, and on a few 

 isohited areas near the coast, b;it traces of its existence are to be 

 found over a great extent of country, and ithese remnants are 

 evidence of its greater extension. 



Piecing together the few facts I have quoted regarding distri- 

 bution, I premise that Kenya Colony may be looked upon as the: 

 junction or the tei'mination of three zoological areas : — The West 

 Coast area, the Somaliland area, and South-East African area. 

 The West Coast area officially terminates at Riiwenzori Mountain, 

 but traces of its fauna are still found far east of that mountain,, 

 in country Avliich they invaded during the period of maximum 

 afibrestation before referred to, a variety of the West African 

 potto { Perodictlcus) being found as far east as Kakumega Forest,, 

 wdiich is 50 miles east of Lake Victoria. The bongo is also a 

 West African type, the butterflies of Kavirondo and West Nandi 

 also contain many West African types, and the grey parrot of 

 W. Africa comes as far as the iSTandi Forest, and is very occasion- 

 ally seen as far east as Kikuyu. 



As regards the Somaliland fauna, I look upon AValler's gazelle 

 as the type-sjiiecies illustrating the invasion from the north, it is 

 (|uite common on the north and east side of the Tana, but much 

 rarer at its southern limit ; Grevy's zebra is another example, and 

 possibly the lesser kudu. The greater kudu is a puzzle because 

 it is fairly common in parts of Somaliland, and common in parts 

 of South Afiica, but very rare in Kenya. 



With regard to the South-East Africa area, the sa,ble antelope 

 undoubtedly worked its way up the East coast from Portuguese 

 East Africa, and I am inclined to believe that the wildebeest 

 also came north from South Afi'ica, developing new characteristics 

 on the journey. 



The original focus of distribution of the bubalines, which in- 

 clude the various forms of hartebeest, is very difficult to settle, 

 but they possibly originated and split up into varieties in this- 

 area, for more hartebeest probably exist in it than in any other, 

 and the forms are more numerous. 



Game axd Disease.— Although, of course, there are many keen 

 sportsmen in the Colony, there is a strong local feeling against 

 Avild game among a section of farmers, who believe that it 

 spreads the tsetse-flies and thus increases the area afi'ected by 

 trypanasomiasis. They again argue that game fosters the supply 



