334 .IAS. .T. SIMPSON — ENTOMOLOGICAL 



and a cauoe has to be used. Hueinutopota decora aud //. palHdipennis were 

 caught hovering around the pony, while one tick was also found on liim. Around 

 the town of Paiko, which stands at the base of a commanding hill, is an 

 extensive fertile plain, wdiere the Fulani graze large herds of cattle. No biting 

 Hies were seen, nor arc there likely to be any in this district, owing to the almost 

 complete absence of any form of shade. The fact that cattle live well in this 

 vicinity and that horses are bred here also points to the absence of tsetse or other 

 biting flies. 



About five miles beyond Paiko, there is a small river, where G. palpuHs 

 occurred in swarms ; while again before Sliaku, the river Jatto or Ebba has to 

 be crossed. At the latter river only Huematopota pmllidipeiints was found. 

 Shaku is a small town at the base of a large hill. No cattle are kept here, but 

 a few mares were seen. The chief, however, complained of a sickness which 

 killed oft' the horses, and his description of the disease was extremely suggestive 

 of trypanosomiasis. The only blood-sucking Hies caught or seen were //. decora, 

 II. palUdlpenuis and Tahanus sp. 



About eleven or twelve miles from Shaku is the village of Tufa, a beautiful 

 small Gwari town situated on the edge of a kurimi. The road for the greater 

 part of the way is through open orchard-like country and high grass. It is not 

 at all improbable that G. paljMilis occurs at Tufa, though none was seen. 



From Tufa to Izon is about six or seven miles. The road passes through 

 long grass and several fadamas. There are small hills on all sides, but the 

 road itself runs through a plain, and in the dry season is fairly good. Outside 

 Izon there are numerous large farms with rice, millet, guinea-corn, beans, 

 cotton, etc. The town of Izon consists of several small sub-villages, and is a 

 very important centre for agricultural produce ; it is situated in the Nassarawa 

 Province, on the left bank of the river Garara. The river at this part is from 

 three to six feet deep in the dry season, but over twenty in the rainy season ; 

 the banks are steep, and the width varies but little at the different times of the 

 year, being always from forty to fifty yards. Crossing is effected in canoes. It 

 is a slow-flowing stream, of which the bed and banks are composed of sand ; the 

 banks are covered with dense vegetation and high shady trees. At the crossing 

 itself, which is sandy, G. pulpalis is abundant, as also are Tahanus gratus and 

 H. palHdipennis. Further removed from the river, G. tachinoides, H. palHdi- 

 pennis aud T. pei'tinens were caught, while in the town itself both G. palpalis 

 and G. tachinoides were found ; these last may, however, have followed the 

 natives from the river crossing. 



As has been already mentioned, this ford is on the main Zuugeru-Abuja road, 

 and is consequently very important. There is a continual stream of natives 

 passing to and fro, and numbers may be seen at almost any hour of the day 

 waiting to be transferred in the canoe. The clearing in the bush is a few yards 

 in width, only sufficient for the canoe to be brought alongside for loading. High 

 shady trees overhang, and tsetse swarm all around. A distance of at least 

 fifty yards on each side of the actual crossing could, with little difficulty, be 

 denuded of all bush and shade-trees. The same ought certainly to be done at 

 the crossings of the Bako river, the river near Paiko, and the river Jatto. 



