Excerpt from The Review of Applied Entomology, Vol. 8: Series B: Medical and Veterinary

The opinion is held by many that the great rinderpest epidemic in Africa of the 'nineties resulted in a marked decrease in Glossina morsitans in the fly areas through which the disease passed, amounting, in some districts at least, to the immediate or eventual disappearance of the fly, owing, it is thought, to the death of much of the wild game upon which it depended for food. In this paper the evidence bearing on the interrelation of game, fly and rinderpest is considered and is dis cussed with the aid of personal experience and Observation. In no instance has prolonged existence of G. Morsitans been discovered in an area where game is entirely and permanently absent. The fly is generally found associated with game in considerable numbers and variety, though it may occur in localities where wild ungulates are apparently scarce. The theory regarding buffalo as essential to the subsistence of the fly has been found untenable.

Rinderpest was found to affect some species of game very severely, while leaving others almost untouched. During the rinderpest epidemic of the 'nineties the tsetse of South Africa were affected differently in different localities. They were either apparently unaffected, markedly reduced in numbers temporarily or permanently, or reduced to the point of ultimate extinction. Generally, however, the passage of rinderpest throughout the fly country was marked by a great diminution in the numbers of tsetse. Experiments described in this paper were undertaken to determine whether rinderpest blood.

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