44 THE SOCIETY FOE THE PBESEBVATION OF 



being overrun with lions; but before signing the death warrants 

 of a number of beautiful and harmless animals, and so rendering 

 themselves liable to the censure of future generations happily less 

 purely utilitarian than the present, it behoves us, even at the risk 

 of being stigmatised as " arm-chair faddists " by the Central 

 African Times, to see that we do not act hastily, and that before; 

 taking an irrevocable step we are quite sure of our facts. 



'In speaking of "the tsetse fly" Mr. Durand is apparently 

 unaware that no fewer than eight species (or kinds) of tsetse flies 

 occur in Africa, so that to refer to them as though there were only 

 one species is as misleading as it would be to speak of the four 

 different kinds of British wild pigeons as " the pigeon." Further- 

 more the only species of tsetse fly as yet definitely associated with 

 sleeping sickness does not, so far as our present knowledge goes, 

 exist in British Central Africa; and, on the otber hand, in 

 Uganda, whore this species (known to naturalists as Glossina 

 palpalis) is abundant on the northern and eastern shores of Lake 

 Victoria, it does not appear to bo dependent upon big game for its 

 subsistence. Whether the three species of tsetse found in British 

 Central Africa are capable of conveying the parasite which is the 

 cause of sleeping sickness has yet to be proved. Meanwhile, in 

 the present state of our knowledge (or ignorance), the most 

 stringent precautions should certainly be taken to prevent 

 cases of the disease, even in its initial stage, from being intro- 

 duced into a district free from the malady but infested by any 

 species of tsetse fly. 



' Yours, etc., 



' Ernest E. Austen. 



'British Museum (Natural History), 

 May 17.' 



' To the Editor of the Morning Post. 



'Sir, — As a hunter of large game during the seventies, when 

 South Africa swarmed with game, I can endorse what Mr. Austen 

 says in his excellent letter on the big game question, which 

 appeared in yesterday's issue of the Morning Post. 



' It goes without' saying that tsetse fly were not found in the 

 high-lying tracts where white-tailed wildeboeste, blesbuck, and 

 springbuck abounded, but there were also low-lying tracts in 

 which the larger varieties of game abounded, and yet there were 

 no tsetse amongst them. For instance, buffalo once abounded in 

 the Tugela thorns of Natal and in the Inkandbla bush where 

 Bambaata is now being pursued, and yet there never were any 

 tsetse in that region. 



' Elephants were once plentiful in the low-lying eastern region 

 of Natal, where there never were any tsetse. In Amaswazi land, 

 between Jozann's and the Usutu, were ridges slightly elevated 

 above the surrounding country. These wore somewhat less 

 densely bushed than the rest of the country. I have there shot 



