jg2 CURRENT NOTES. 



at the crossing of the Kuaha River, on the Iringa-Kilossa Eoad He writes :- 

 " It is of interest to note that in both cases there were considerable herds ot 

 apparently healthy cattle in the immediate vicinity and coming to water at 

 these very spots." 



Bembex preying upon Tabanidae. 



Mr C C Gowdey, the Government Entomologist in Uganda, writes that he 

 has recently captm-ed two specimens of Bemhex tricolor mm>., each of which 

 was carrying off an example of Tahanus secedens, Walk., to its burrow. The 

 insects wer; found near Kangai, on the bank of the Kabalanga I^i^fr which 

 flows from Lake Kwania, in the Bululu District. It may be recaUed that 

 T. secedens has been mentioned in the reports of the Sleeping Sickness Commis- 

 sion as a possible vector of Trypanosoma pecorum (Bull. EnL lies. -l-> P- ;^-|. 



Mr S A. Neave has also sent, from the Euaha Valley, German East Africa, 

 a Bemlex capensis, Lep., which was preying upon a Tabanid, Holco<^<^Ha nobrhs, 

 Griinb He notes that " in this locality there can be httle doubt that, at this 

 season at least, these Hymenoptera are very important enemies of lABANiDiE. 

 Numbers were to be seen hawking round cattle and other domestic anWs durmg 

 the heat of the day in search of these flies; so much so, that the difficulty of 

 collecting the flies was much increased, as they mostly took refuge under the 

 animals' bellies." 



Fish preying upon mosquito larvae in Uganda. 



Mr C C Gowdey, Government Entomologist in Uganda, writes that he has 

 made experiments with two Cyprinodont fishes, which he believes to be Fundulus 

 tcBniopygus 2.nA HaplocUlus pumilus, ^nd. finds that they devour mosquito larva, 

 voraciously. But he adds :-" The Cy prinodonts in Uganda could never, m my 

 opinion, play such an important part in the destruction of mosquito larva, as does 

 Girc^rdmus pceciloides in Barbados ; for here there are numerous rivers and 

 swamps, overgrown with papyrus and reed-like grasses, in which mosquito larva, 

 are abundant and where these Cyprinodonts are not found and will not live 



It would be rash to assume that these fish cannot be established in waters in 

 which they do not occur naturaUy. For, apart from the fact that their normal 

 powers of dispersal must be comparatively limited, especially where isolated pools 

 or swamps are concerned, even if a definite inhibitive factor exists, it might ye be 

 possible by the continual introduction of fresh batches eventually to establish a 

 resistant strain ; or again, it might be possible to remove or mitigate the adverse 

 conditions, when they have been ascertained, 



