xii Transactions of the South African Philosophical Society. 



bushes, hardly more than 2 or 3 feet high. There is no 

 other wood available as fuel than such brushwood. 



2. Because this is a species of Cliffortia, or a new genus nearly 



allied to it. But the genus Cliffortia, is one of the most 

 characteristic types of the South-western flora of the Cape, 

 hence we see that the only tree of the group occurs as an 

 isolated outlier on the mountains beyond the Karroo. 



3. On account of the far more xerophilous structure of the leaves 



than on any other species, being well protected against 

 excessive transpiration by a thick coat of peculiar hairs, 

 which form a real fur. 



The tree reaches a height of 25 feet and has a trunk up to 

 20 inches in diameter. It grows only on the upper edge of the 

 Komsberg (5,200 feet) and the Southern end of the Eoggeveld 

 mountains. 



The colonists call it " starboom," on account of the peculiar 

 arrangement of the leaves. 



It is probable that the thick fur on the leaves absorbs moisture 

 from the clouds which strike against the edge of the mountains 

 in their northward course, and that this has enabled the tree to 

 remain in this particular locality as one of the few traces of a 

 formerly moister climate and a wider stretch of the real Cape 

 flora. 



Mr. L. Peeinguey read a Note on the agent of a new "Myasis," 

 or disease caused by flies : — 



About a fortnight ago Dr. Ashley-Emile asked him to examine 

 some minute grubs which he had brought from Northern Ehodesia, 

 and which he thought were the cause of this very nasty disease 

 called the Veld sore, and also Natal or Delagoa Bay sore. On 

 examination it was found that the Doctor's surmise was justified 

 — the grubs proving to be those of a Dipterous Fly. They are very 

 minute ; the body segments are covered with sharp hooked spines, 

 enabling the grub to hold firmly where it has penetrated, and the 

 animal would, in this wise, cause a very great irritation. It is 

 totally unlike the grub of Bengueyella depressa deposited on the 

 body of man, or even, it is said, of dogs in Natal, the Transvaal, 

 Delagoa Bay, and also in Senegal, and which he had on two 

 occasions brought to the notice of the Society. As Dr. Ashley- 

 Emile intends, however, to bring out his discovery of the agent 

 of this new myasis before a medical society, he refrained to add any 

 more details on these grubs, but, while endeavouring to ascertain 

 the identity of the animal, he found that Livingstone had been a 

 victim of a fly, not identical with but similar to that discovered by 



