182 CURRENT NOTES. 
at the crossing of the Ruaha River, on the Iringa-Kilossa Road. He writes :— 
“Tt is of interest to note that in both cases there were considerable herds of 
apparently healthy cattle in the immediate vicinity and coming to water at 
these very spots.” 
Bembex preying upon Tabanidae. 
Mr. C. C. Gowdey, the Government Entomologist in Uganda, writes that he 
has recently captured two specimens of Bembex tricolor, Dahlb., each of which 
was carrying off an example of Tabunus secedens, Walk., to its burrow. ‘The 
insects were found near Kangai, on the bank of the Kabalanga River, which 
flows from Lake Kwania, in the Bululu District. It may be recalled that 
T. secedens has been mentioned in the reports of the Sleeping Sickness Commis- 
sion as a possible vector of Trypanosoma pecorum (Bull, Ent. Res. I., p. 222). 
Mr. 8. A. Neave has also sent, from the Ruaha Valley, German East Africa, 
a Bembex capensis, Lep., which was preying upon a Tabanid, Holcoceria nobilis, 
Griinb. He notes that “in this locality there can be little doubt that, at this 
season at least, these Hymenoptera are very important enemies of TABANIDA. 
Numbers were to be seen hawking round cattle and other domestic animals during 
the heat of the day in search of these flies ; so much so, that the difficulty of 
collecting the flies was much increased, as they mostly took refuge under the 
animals’ bellies.” 
Fish preying upon mosquito larve in Uganda. 
Mr. C. C. Gowdey, Government Entomologist in Uganda, writes that he has 
made experiments with two Cyprinodont fishes, which he believes to be Fundulus 
teniopygus and Haplochilus pumilus, and finds that they devour mosquito larve 
voraciously. But he adds :—“* The Cyprinodonts in Uganda could never, in my 
opinion, play such an important part in the destruction of mosquito larve as does 
Girardinus peciloides in Barbados; for here there are numerous rivers and 
swamps, overgrown with papyrus and reed-like grasses, in which mosquito larve 
are abundant and where these Cyprinodonts are not found and will not live.” 
It would be rash to assume that these fish cannot be established in waters in 
which they do not occur naturally. For, apart from the fact that their normal 
powers of dispersal must be comparatively limited, especially where isolated pools 
or swamps are concerned, even if a definite inhibitive factor exists, it might yet be 
possible by the continual introduction of fresh batches eventually to establish a 
resistant strain ; or again, it might be possible to remove or mitigate the adverse 
conditions, when they have been ascertained, 
