276 DE. T. F. G. MAYER — NOTfiS ON BLOOD-SOCKING FLIES. 



Glossina palpalis is common all over the district in the rainy season. I have 

 caugiit it when travelling along the following roads in July, 1910, viz : — the 

 Oshogbo— Ilesha Koad, and the Ikerun — Ila — Ipoti road. 



Capt. Humphrey (then District Commissioner, Ilesha) caught this fly along the 

 following roads in July, 1910 : Ilesha — Efon — ^Ilawe — Igbara-odo — Ikere — 

 Ado — Ipoti — Karo — Oke Mesi — Ilesha ; and along the following roads in 

 September, 1910 : Ilesha — Efou — Apa — Akutan — Igbaraodo — Ilawe — Ado — ■ 

 Ikere — Ise, and on the Ado — Ara road. 



Specimens of the fly were also sent me from Ifeby Mr, W-heelwright, Foreman 

 of Works. They were caught in September, 1910. 



Sleeping Sickness. 



Whether or not sleeping sickness occurs in these districts it is hard to say. 

 My own opinion is that the disease does not exist. The Kev. J. Mackay, a 

 missionary of the Church Missionary Society, who has been some seventeen years 

 in these districts, says he remembers two cases that may have been sleeping 

 sickness occurring five or six years ago. Not being a medical man he did not like 

 to make any more definite statement. He has neither seen nor heard of any 

 cases since. If the disease occurs there is no doubt that it is nothing like as 

 prevalent as it is on the Gold Coast. 



In this connection it may be mentioned that in these two districts the popula- 

 tion is herded into lai'ge towns, into which only isolated "specimens of Glossina 

 palpalis stray with travellers and cattle. There are no small scattered villages. 



Horse Sickness. 



There is no doubt that within the last six years thers has been an enormous 

 increase of horse sickness. The Chiefs of Ila and Ife have complained to me that 

 ivhereas in former days they could ride about in style, they now have to walk or 

 hammock from place to place, because they can no longer keep horses for more 

 than a few weeks. 



The cause of this is no doubt the pacification of the country, and the subsequent 

 introduction of infected horses from Northei'n Nigeria. It may be mentioned 

 that the use of guns by the natives has led to the extermination of practically all 

 the game in the district. 



A Plant that kills Mosquito Larvae. 

 In attempting to breed out mosquitos from larvae, I have two or three times 

 been unsuccessful from a curious cause. A green gas-producing plant has 

 grown in the water, attaching itself not only to the sides of the vessel, but also 

 to the mouth-parts of the larvre. A bubble of gas (whether it be oxygen or not, 

 I do not know) forms and pulls the larva to the surface of the water, but into 

 such a position that it cannot use its syphon tube. In this ridiculous position it 

 dies miserably after making the most violent efforts to free itself from this 

 inexorable bubble of air. 



