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THE RELATION BETWEEN GAME AND TSETSE-FLIES. 



By Major J- Stevenson Hamilton, 

 Warden, Transvaal Government Game Reserves. 



The theory that the larger wild mammals, commonly called " big game," are 

 solely and entirely responsible for the presence of tsetse-flies, has become so 

 firmly fixed in the mind of the average " man in the street " in South Africa, 

 that no amount of contrary argument or even proof, were such forthcoming, 

 could ever have much effect in altering his opinion. The newcomer quickly 

 assimilates the same idea, and after a time begins to voice it as assertively 

 as his mentor. It is thvis most difficult to obtain really reliable data. An 

 investigator, beginning an enquiry with an open mind, finds himself flooded with 

 such a mass of apparently well substantiated statements, provided by experienced 

 and obviously sincere persons, that he can with difficulty keep his mind free from 

 a certain amount of bias. Starting from the assumption that the presence of fly 

 depends upon that of game, arguments against the continued existence of the 

 latter quickly multiply in the public mind. I was talking to a friend the other 

 day, and he mentioned that he had been replying to some questions upon this 

 very subject. He was no partisan of the anti-game movement, bvit regretfully 

 expressed his conviction that in order to get rid of tsetse-fly it would be necessary 

 to abolish the larger animals. I ventured to ask for some clear instance of this 

 interdependence. He was unable to quote any first-hand evidence which might 

 not have been explained away, and his main contention, in short, was, " Of course 

 the fly is dependent upon the game, everyone with any experience knows that ; 

 ask any old hunter or native." This, I think, about sums up the ideas of the 

 majority of people, and, if further argument is deemed necessary, the assumed 

 general disappearance of the fly after rinderpest is pointed to as affording con- 

 clusive proof. The presumption is, of course, that the fly, deprived of its means 

 of subsistence, died of starvation. An acquaintance with some of the districts 

 visited by the epidemic would however by no means indicate that this was the 

 real cause of the phenomenon, where it occurred. A study of the effect of 

 rinderpest upon the relations between fly and game, might indeed, were it possible 

 always to obtain accurate data, shed some new and interesting light upon the 

 whole subject. 



The rinderpest, like many epidemics, pursued its course in a rather erratic 

 manner. Here a range of moimtains diverted it, there it swept down one bank 

 of a river and left the other untouched. Sometimes a comparatively large area 

 was entirely un visited, while all the surrounding country was ravaged. The 

 Barotse Valley, wherein many thousand head of cattle were located at the time 

 of the visitation, was absolutely unafl^ected, though many of the neighbouring 

 areas were denuded of stock. The wild animals which suffered most severely, 

 after buffalo, were the tragelaphines — eland, kudu, and bushbuck — but reedbuck, 

 duiker, and in fact all the horned ruminants possessing a large moist rhinarium, 

 also paid heavy toll. Sable and roan antelope, wildebeest, impala, and others 



