330 JAS. J. SIMPSON — ENTOMOLOGICAL 



on a trolley from Minna, on NoveraLer 23rcl and 24th. At 84 miles the line 

 runs at a considerable distance from the river, but numerous G. sabmordtans 

 alighted on the natives on the trolley. No water exists anywhere in this 

 vicinity, and the bush is fairly open, and gets gradually thinner, until at Minna 

 there are only a few stunted trees scattered about (Plate XII, fig. 1 and text- 

 fig. 1). At 98f miles there is a large river, on the banks of which the bush 

 is very dense ; no tsetse were seen there, but in all probability they exist ; 

 while at 103 miles there is a small stream, 20 feet deep during the rains, but 

 reduced to isolated pools in the dry season. There Glossina submorsitans was 

 caught, and it is noteworthy that at this point one of the construction camps 

 was situated, and practically every horse brought there died of trypanosomiasis. 

 Dr. Morrison, who did a considerable amount of travelling on this line, writing 

 to me about this region, says : " Hippocentrum versicolor and Tabaivis bigutiafuit 

 var. croceus I have caught at Katcha station, and the former along with Tabanii.t 

 taeniola in the van all along the line. These species enter the vans and carriages, 

 and are thus carried from place to place all along the Baro-Kano Railway." 



At Minna, blood-sucking flies of any description are seldom met with. The 

 following species were, however, obtained : Hippobosca vuicv.lata, Stomoxys 

 calcitrans, Myzomyia costalis, Anopheles watsoni, Myzorhynchus paludis and 

 Mansonioides uniformis ; while the ticks comprised Hyalomma aeyyptivm, 

 Amhlyomma variegatum and Rhipicep)hulus falcatus. Dr. Macfie informed me 

 that the only Tabanid he had seen during a three months' stay at this station 

 was T. taeniola, and it is more than probable that this was carried to Minna in 

 some railway vehicle. There is a large herd of Fulani cattle at Minna, and 

 the death rate is extremely low, which in itself gives an indication of the paucity 

 of such insects as may be implicated in the transmission of disease. 



North of Minna, the country through which the railway runs is fairly open, 

 with the exception of a few isolated kurimis. Near Guni, where the River Dinia 

 is crossed, Haematopou pallidipennis and a species of Tabanus, not yet identified 

 and probably new, entered the van in which I was travelling. Further 

 on, at Kogin Sirikin Pawa, on the river of that name, numerous Hippobosca 

 macniata and Haematopota pallidipennis swarmed around the ponies, and one 

 specimen of the Tabanus mentioned above was caught ; but although I 

 carefully examined about a mile of the banks of the river itself, no tsetse were 

 seen. In the small pools left by the falling river were numerous mosquito egg- 

 rafts, and also large numbers of both Anopheline and Culieine larvae and pupae. 

 One small specimen of Tabanus, probably T. grains, was seen but not caught. 

 At the River Kaduna, the terminus of the railway at the time of my visit 

 (PI. XIII, fig. 2), only H. pallidipennis, T. gratus and T. pertinens were seen. 



{g) Kateri. 



Prior to my visit to Northern Nigeria, reports had been received by the 

 Principal Medical Officer, Dr. S. W. Thompstone, C.M.Cr., that sleeping sickness 

 was very prevalent in and around Kateri in the Zaria Province — a very inac- 

 cessible region geldom visited by Europeans. At the request of Dr. Thompstone, 

 I visited this district in December. A start was made from Kugo on the Baro- 

 Kano Railway on November 29th ; Kateri was reached on December I st ; two 



