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ENTOMOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN BRITISH WEST AFRICA. 



III.— SOUTHERN NIGERIA. 



By Jas. J. Simpson, M.A., D.Sc. 



(With a Map showing the distribution of Glossina and photographs by the author.) 



(Plates II— V.) 

 Contents. 



Introductory... 

 I. Geography of the Colony and Protectorate 



(a) Position and Extent ... 



(b) Physical Configuration 



(c) Vegetation 

 II. Climate and Rainfall 



III. Narrative 



(a) Western Province 



(b) Central Province 



(c) Eastern Province 



IV. Records of Blood-sucking Insects and other Arthropods from Southern Nigeria 

 V. Insect-borne Diseases in Man and other Animals 



VI. The distribution of Glossina 

 VII. The distribution of Stegomyia 



Page. 



. 137 



. 140 



. 140 

 142 



, 143 



. 145 



. 155 



. 155 



. 165 



. 173 



. 183 



. 186 



. 187 



. 191 



Introductory. 



The Colony of Southern Nigeria was traversed by the writer in 1910, and the 

 following short report is founded on observations made during the first seven 

 months of that year. As will be seen later on, various officers, chiefly medical, 

 stationed in the Colony, afforded material help in the investigation, and the 

 results of their work are also incorporated here ; the collections of injurious 

 insects made by them have been duly acknowledged in previous issues of this 

 Bulletin, and also, as far as possible, throughout this report. 



A word of explanation is necessary in order to avoid any misapprehension of 

 the aims of the writer in framing this resume. The report deals entirely with 

 the blood-sucking insects and other arthropods which are or may be associated 

 with the various parasitic diseases found in this and similar Colonies. As in the 

 case of all Tropical African dependencies, prior to the formation of the Entomo- 

 logical Research Committee, very little was known of the economic entomological 

 fauna. Through the instrumentality of the Medical Research Institute at Yaba 

 (five miles from Lagos), Southern Nigeria is probably ahead of most other 

 Colonies in this respect. Considerable work has been done there, chiefly on 

 mosquito larvae, but this work has been confined almost entirely to Yaba and 

 Lagos, a very circumscribed area. 



The primary aim of the Entomological Research Committee, so far as Tropical 

 Africa is concerned, may be tersely summed up as " a complete study of the 

 insects and other arthropods implicated in the transmission of diseases in man and 

 other animals." 



