﻿AN 
  ENQUIRY 
  INTO 
  THE 
  RELATIONS 
  OF 
  GLOSSINA 
  MORSITANS 
  AND 
  

  

  UNGULATE 
  GAME, 
  WITH 
  SPECIAL 
  REFERENCE 
  TO 
  RINDERPEST. 
  

  

  By 
  H. 
  Lyndhurst 
  Duke, 
  M.D., 
  D.T.M. 
  & 
  H. 
  (Camb.), 
  

  

  Government 
  Bacteriologist, 
  Uganda 
  Protectorate. 
  

  

  In 
  the 
  course 
  of 
  a 
  conversation 
  in 
  November 
  1917, 
  Mr. 
  E. 
  Hutchins, 
  the 
  Chief 
  

   Veterinary 
  Officer, 
  Uganda 
  Protectorate, 
  drew 
  my 
  attention 
  to 
  an 
  outbreak 
  of 
  

   rinderpest 
  in 
  the 
  Northern 
  Province 
  of 
  the 
  Protectorate, 
  which 
  first 
  manifested 
  

   itself 
  in 
  the 
  buffalo 
  of 
  the 
  Chopi 
  Country. 
  The 
  disease 
  was 
  then 
  rapidly 
  spreading 
  

   through 
  the 
  game 
  in 
  the 
  Glossina 
  morsitans 
  area 
  between 
  Masindi 
  Station 
  and 
  the 
  

   Kafu 
  River. 
  He 
  pointed 
  out 
  the 
  excellence 
  of 
  the 
  opportunity 
  for 
  investigating 
  

   the 
  alleged 
  relationship 
  between 
  rinderpest 
  and 
  fly. 
  As 
  I 
  had 
  worked 
  from 
  May 
  

   till 
  September 
  1914 
  in 
  the 
  Northern 
  Province 
  fly 
  belt 
  in 
  association 
  with 
  Mr. 
  W. 
  F. 
  

   Fiske, 
  I 
  was 
  in 
  a 
  particularly 
  advantageous 
  position 
  to 
  estimate 
  any 
  alteration 
  

   in 
  the 
  fly 
  distribution 
  which 
  might 
  have 
  occurred 
  as 
  a 
  result 
  of 
  the 
  epidemic. 
  The 
  

   question 
  had 
  a 
  special 
  local 
  significance, 
  as, 
  should 
  the 
  disease 
  prove 
  fatal 
  to 
  the 
  

   fly, 
  the 
  introduction 
  of 
  rinderpest 
  among 
  the 
  situtunga 
  on 
  the 
  Islands 
  of 
  Lake 
  

   Victoria 
  would 
  simultaneously 
  remove 
  the 
  reservoir 
  and 
  the 
  carrier 
  of 
  the 
  mammalian 
  

   trypanosomes. 
  My 
  release 
  from 
  military 
  duties 
  was 
  duly 
  sanctioned 
  in 
  November 
  

   1917, 
  but 
  unfortunate 
  circumstances 
  over 
  which 
  I 
  had 
  no 
  control 
  postponed 
  its 
  

   fulfilment 
  until 
  April 
  1918. 
  By 
  this 
  time 
  the 
  disease 
  had 
  almost 
  worked 
  itself 
  out 
  

   in 
  the 
  fly 
  area, 
  and, 
  what 
  is 
  more 
  to 
  be 
  regretted, 
  the 
  long-deferred 
  rains 
  had 
  com- 
  

   menced 
  throughout 
  the 
  district. 
  The 
  heart 
  of 
  a 
  unique 
  opportunity 
  was 
  thus 
  lost. 
  

  

  The 
  Masindi 
  fly 
  belt 
  had 
  been 
  studied 
  in 
  1914 
  for 
  several 
  months 
  by 
  Fiske, 
  a 
  

   highly 
  trained 
  entomologist 
  with 
  considerable 
  experience 
  in 
  the 
  scientific 
  handling 
  

   of 
  insect 
  pests 
  on 
  a 
  large 
  scale. 
  His 
  careful 
  observations 
  on 
  the 
  bionomics 
  of 
  the 
  

   fly 
  in 
  this 
  belt 
  are 
  of 
  the 
  greatest 
  value 
  in 
  arriving 
  at 
  conclusions 
  regarding 
  the 
  present 
  

   problem. 
  

  

  There 
  is 
  a 
  strong 
  consensus 
  of 
  opinion 
  among 
  Europeans 
  of 
  experience 
  in 
  South 
  

   Africa 
  that 
  the 
  great 
  rinderpest 
  epidemic 
  of 
  the 
  nineties 
  resulted 
  in 
  a 
  marked 
  

   decrease 
  in 
  the 
  tsetse 
  in 
  the 
  fly 
  areas 
  through 
  which 
  the 
  disease 
  passed, 
  amounting, 
  

   in 
  some 
  districts 
  at 
  any-rate, 
  to 
  the 
  immediate 
  or 
  eventual 
  disappearance 
  of 
  the 
  fly. 
  

   The 
  explanation 
  of 
  this 
  phenomenon 
  most 
  generally 
  advanced 
  is 
  that 
  the 
  fly 
  dis- 
  

   appeared 
  as 
  a 
  direct 
  result 
  of 
  the 
  great 
  destruction 
  by 
  the 
  disease 
  of 
  the 
  wild 
  game 
  

   upon 
  which 
  it 
  depended 
  for 
  food. 
  The 
  fly 
  were, 
  in 
  other 
  words, 
  starved 
  to 
  death. 
  

  

  In 
  this 
  paper 
  it 
  is 
  proposed 
  first 
  to 
  review 
  the 
  somewhat 
  meagre 
  evidence 
  bearing 
  

   on 
  the 
  interrelation 
  of 
  game, 
  fly, 
  and 
  rinderpest, 
  and 
  to 
  discuss 
  the 
  same 
  with 
  the 
  

   aid 
  of 
  personal 
  experience 
  and 
  observation. 
  Then 
  to 
  proceed 
  to 
  the 
  actual 
  experi- 
  

   ments 
  which 
  were 
  undertaken 
  to 
  decide 
  whether 
  rinderpest 
  blood, 
  per 
  se, 
  is 
  or 
  is 
  not 
  

   destructive 
  to 
  Glossina 
  ; 
  and, 
  Anally, 
  to 
  endeavour 
  to 
  arrive 
  at 
  some 
  kind 
  of 
  under- 
  

   standing 
  regarding 
  the 
  relations 
  of 
  fly 
  and 
  game 
  and 
  the 
  conditions 
  which 
  lead 
  to 
  a 
  

   disappearance 
  or 
  diminution 
  of 
  Glossina. 
  My 
  apology 
  for 
  presuming 
  to 
  attack 
  

   so 
  complicated 
  a 
  problem 
  is 
  that 
  I 
  have 
  recently 
  been 
  privileged 
  to 
  witness 
  the 
  

  

  