TSETSE FLIES 358 



infectivity of beasts of any kind may not be an 

 accidental or temporary condition, and not by 

 any means one of life-long duration. 



The Secretary of State for the Colonies, the 

 Right Hon. L. V. Harcourt, has pointed out with 

 absolute understanding of the matter that " to 

 talk of the extermination of the wild fauna of a 

 sub-continent is to talk wild nonsense," adding 

 that " the suggestion is only possible from those 

 who take their natural history and geography 

 from a school atlas." With this view, I feel sure, 

 all those who have considered this matter with 

 calmness and judgment cannot but fully concur. 

 If, then, the difficulties of extermination be so 

 stupendous, what measure of success, I ask, is 

 likely to attend the " driving back " of the many 

 types of active ruminants accustomed to travel in 

 one short night many mUes farther than they 

 could be driven in several long and weary days ? 

 Of course if Dr. Warrington Yorke's methods of 

 " driving back " are such as he would desire to 

 see entrusted to the wanton, armed native, or the 

 murderous " biltong " manufacturer, to whom I 

 have referred elsewhere, he should be frank and 

 say so. 



Let us regard the question from another point 

 of view. It is a well-established fact, as I myself 

 have just pointed out from my own experience, 

 that for reasons of which we are still entirely 

 ignorant tsetse flies adhere to the same areas for 

 long periods of time, wholly irrespective and 

 independent of the presence of game therein. 

 About the year 1896, the visitation of rinderpest 



