ZOOLOGY 
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heard of at Karonga about 1891. It reached South Nyasa the following year 
and in 1894 became a great pest at Zomba and throughout the Shire Highlands, 
finally reaching Chinde on the sea coast in 1895. Fortunately it is an insect 
which apparently only thrives on sandy soils and therefore in moist parts of 
British Central Africa it is already commencing to disappear. At first it caused 
terrible sufferings amongst our naked-footed soldiers, policemen and postmen, 
many of whom became lame by its bites. It caused the Administration to go 
to great expense in providing boots for all these people. Gradually, however, 
the natives are getting used to its attacks as they are in West Africa and in the 
West Indies, and by care and constant attention to the feet are able to keep it at 
bay. The jigger is a very minute flea only just visible. The female creeps 
under the skin, preferring if possible those parts where there is a slight pressure, 
such as between the toes or fingers. The foot, however, is that portion of the 
human frame which it most usually attacks. Having burrowed under the 
surface of the skin the insect proceeds to lay a large number of eggs which, 
together with itself, are enveloped in a white sac. After laying the eggs the 
mother dies, the young ones hatch out and proceed to devour all the surround¬ 
ing tissue, burrowing in all directions until at last the neglected toe or other 
portion of the foot becomes honeycombed. In extreme cases mortification may 
set in and the whole foot be lost even if the mischief spread no farther. But 
such a case as this could only occur when the insect first makes its appearance 
in a new country and its advances are quite uninterrupted and neglected. If the 
jigger be removed within a few days after entry the removal is very easy and 
relatively painless, and the evil consequences are nil. Still Europeans who are 
obliged to live in jigger-haunted localities should be careful to have their feet 
examined once a day by a native servant. The natives are very sharp eyed 
and on a white skin it is easy to see the jigger burrowing like a little blue point 
under the surface. A little carbolic oil dropped into the hole from which the 
burrowing flea has been extracted will allay the irritation which is caused by 
some liquid the animal exudes, and will effectively kill any eggs that may have 
escaped from the sac. Fortunately the skin surrounding the sac is tough and a 
skilful operator easily removes it unbroken. The jigger attacks not only human 
beings but monkeys, dogs, fowls and turkeys. 
In like manner the bed-bug, which is a hideous pest in any village that has 
been occupied by Arabs or coastmen, is usually absent from those native 
dwellings inhabited by naked people whose habits are cleanly and whose scanty 
clothing affords no harbourage for this pest. The indigenous bugs are many 
but confine their attacks to plants, the juices of which they suck. Many of 
these bugs are brightly, even handsomely coloured, but all of them possess the 
same faculty of emitting (as a means of protection) the same horrible smell— 
a smell none the less disgusting from its near approach to being aromatic. 
The locust which so much afflicted British Central Africa during the years 
1893, 1894 and 1895 was apparently the red locust of North Africa, 1 and not 
any indigenous or South African variety. 2 This locust plague from all accounts 
began in the Egyptian Sudan almost simultaneously with the rinderpest, and, 
spreading southwards, gradually reached British Central Africa, passing on 
from there to South Africa, where it caused very serious losses. It would seem 
1 Pachytylus migratorioiJes ? 
- Though of course there are several species of Pachytylus in South Africa ; but in the case of the 
locust plague of 1893—95, the locusts came down in swarms from the far north, from Galaland and the 
Egyptian Sudan, whence they also spread westward to Sierra Leone. The locusts passed on steadily 
in a southerly direction, and have recently ravaged Bechuanaland and Natal. 
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