302 JAS. J. SIMPSON — ENTOMOLOGICAL 



are numerous records made by several medical officers and other officials in the 

 Protectorate. The present work deals exclusively with the blood-sucking insects 

 and other arthropods which are, or may be, implicated in the transmission of 

 disease in West Africa, and is therefore an extension of my previous report 

 on the same subject in relation to the (Gambia.* 



Prior to the formation of the Entomological Kesearch Committee, through 

 whom this work is being conducted, very few specimens of insects and only a few 

 isolated records reached England from the various Tropical African Colonies : 

 but since that time numerous officials, and not the least in Northern Nigeria, 

 have made systematic surveys of the districts in which they are stationed, 

 and our knowledge of the distribution of the various species, their habits, and 

 habitats is now gradually increasing. Only by this means can it ever be hoped 

 to formulate any definite schemes for the abatement of the various diseases 

 which may be transmitted by these insects. 



The thanks of the Committee are due to those who have aided in this work, 

 but it is unnecessary to enter into the various details here, as the collections have 

 been identified and lists sent (along with named specimens where desired) to the 

 individual collectors, and receipt has been acknowledged from time to time in the 

 Various issues of this Bulletin. In case it may not be universally known, I 

 might take this opportunity of pointing out to any officials or others, who may 

 be interested in this work, but who have no' means of identifying the insects 

 collected, that any collections sent to the Entomological Research Committee 

 will be identified and recorded, and, if requested, named specimens will be 

 returned to the collector, along with any available information which may 

 be desired. It is hoped, therefore, that many will take this opportunity of 

 familiarising themselves with the various noxious insects in the Protectorate, 

 and at the same time help to extend our knowledge of their life-histories and 

 distribution. 



An account of the more simple methods of collecting and preserving insects 

 for transmission to England was added as an appendix to my Gambian report, 

 and separate copies of this may be obtained from the Scientific Secretary of the 

 Committee by anyone desirous of aiding in this investigation. 



The duration of my stay in the Protectorate, namely, five and a half months, 

 precluded the possibility of ray attempting to traverse anything but a limited 

 portion, and for this reason 1 confined my attention to the liiver Niger, some of 

 its tributaries, and the railway systems, as in those regions one would expect to 

 find Glossina pulpalis most universally distributed. At the request of Dr. S. W. 

 Thompstone, C.M.G., the Principal Medical Officer, I also made a fairly 

 exhaustive inspection of the Kateri district (p. 330), the Kiver Garara (p. 335), and 

 the Province of Bassa (p. 339), in all of which sleeping sickness was reported to 

 occur. Consequently, this report deals mainly with the south-west portion of the 

 Protectorate, or, in other words, the JNiger basin, and is concerned very little 

 with the Benue or Chad systems. For this reason it must be pointed out that 



* Bull. Ent. Res. II, pt. 2, pp. 187-226. 



