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No. 78.

SCHEME OF WORK CARRIED OUT BY DR. JAS. J. SIMPSON DURING HIS RECENT TOUR (JULY, 1915-MARCH, 1917) IN THE GOLD COAST, WEST AFRICA.

(Received 1st May, 1917.)

LEFT Liverpool 20th June, 1915, arrived at Accra 15th July, 1915. Made arrangements with the Secretariat, Treasury, etc., and returned to Sekondi by first steamer, 1st August. Proceeded to Coomassie 7th August, and left soon after for Tamale, the headquarters of the Northern Territories. About 1st September arrived at Yapi, a village on the River Volta, two days from Tamale.

This village I selected as my headquarters, partly owing to its being on the River Volta and food for labourers being plentiful, but chiefly owing to the fact that a new rest-house had been built there, and I was permitted to occupy the old one, thus effecting a saving of time. Here I erected a laboratory and an animal house, and from Yapi I made numerous tours of investigation.

During October and November the grass is at its maximum growth, and bush work is out of the question. Consequently I confined my work to the River Volta.

In December the grass is burnt down, so early in January I proceeded by canoe - down the Volta to Yeji (seven days), examining it for tsetse and other blood- sucking flies From Yeji I proceeded to Makongo and Salaga, and then pushed on through a part where no European had been for several years.

I wished to examine the villages and bush close to the river, with a view to ascertaining the habits and habitats of tsetse and their relation to game.

By means of a circuitous route 1 returned to Yapi in March. I should have liked to have examined this region again later on, but pressure of work prevented me. There is now a regular transport service from Yeji to Yapi by canoe on the river, and the Government were considering the advisability of erecting rest-houses and sending officials down river instead overland. Consequently, for this reason, I made a careful survey of the river.

After a short stay at Yapi I proceeded up the bank of the river to Daboya, and then across country to Larabanga, where I had previously found tsetse abundant. Larabanga I made my headquarters for a time, and went out to several bush camps in the vicinity, examining the various types of bush. I then returned to Yapı to re-equip, and shortly afterwards visited Zanbara, also on the River Volta, where From Zanbara I pushed across country previously I had found tsetse abundant.

again to Larabanga, and on to Bole.

I may mention that, at this time, for seven months I had not seen a white face. From Bole I returned to Yapi, and, having got everything fixed up. I broke camp in December and went to Tamale.

From Tamale I proceeded to Yendi, one of the old German headquarters in Togoland, captured by the British. I did this with a view to examining the River Oti, a large tributary of the Volta, and also a region hitherto unexplored. From Yendi I proceeded to Salaga by a circuitous route through a game country. From Salaga I went to Kete Krachi, also formerly a German post, examining on the way the River Dakar, another tributary of the Volta.

At Kete Krachi I crossed the Volta to British Krachi, pressed on to Atabubu --on receipt of cable recalling me--then to Coomassie and home.

Inter alia the following were some of the problems I set myself to solve, if possible :-

General distribution of various species of tsetse.

(2) Proportion of sexes and reasons for any discrepancies in numbers.

(3) Distribution and nature of breeding places of various species. This was hitherto practically unknown in West Africa.

(4) Proportion of sexes in tsetse bred from pupæ found in breeding places, to compare with that found in nature.

(5) Nature of the blood supply of tsetse-whether mammalian, avian, or reptilian.

(6) Experiments in feeding tsetse, to see whether they could subsist on nutri- ment other than blood.

(7) Nature of enemies of adult tsetse, whether avian, insect, or otherwise.

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(8) Nature of parasites of tsetse pupae. These had hitherto not been known from West Africa.

(9) Experiments in breeding these parasites in pupæ other than tsetse, e.g.. Sarcophaga.

(10) Distribution and nature of game in regions infested with tsetse and otherwise.

(11) Ecto parasites of game.

(12) Blood parasites of game.

(13) Distribution of domestic animals in tsetse-infested districts and otherwis (14) Ecto parasites of domestic animals.

(15) Blood parasites of domestic animals.

(16) General distribution of other blood-sucking flies, and whether they could

be implicated in the transmission of disease.

On each and all of these subjects I hope to report the results of my investiga- tions shortly.

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I left Sekondi by Royal Mail steamer “Elmina on 17th March, and arrived at Liverpool 4th April, 1917.

26337

No. 79.

IMPERIAL

OF

MINUTES OF THE TWENTY-FIFTH GENERAL MEETING OF THE

MANAGING COMMITTEE OF THE

BUREAU ENTOMOLOGY, held at the Colonial OffICE, ON THE 10TH OF MAY, 1917.

VISCOUNT Harcourt.

DR. BAGSHAWE.

MR. BLECH.

MR. FRYER.

DR. HARMER.

Present:

PROFESSOR Lefroy. PROFESSOR MACDOUGALL. SIR JOHN MCFADYEAN. PROFESSOR NEWSTEAD. PROFESSOR Nuttall. SIR DAVID PRAIN. MR. READ.

MR. SCOTT.

DR. SHIPLEY,

MR. THEOBALD.

MR. WARBURTON,

Dr. Marshall.

MR. NEAVE.

MR. FIDDIAN (Acting Secretary).

BEFORE the meeting proceeded to business, Dr. Harmer tendered congratu- lations, on behalf of the Committee, to the Chairman, on his elevation to the peerage. Lord Harcourt thanked the Committee.

The minutes of the Twenty-fourth General Meeting were confirmed. The Half-yearly Report of the Director was received. Dr. Marshall explained various points arising out of the report, and the pleasure of the Committee was taken as to the allowance to be made to Mr. Waterston while on military service. It was decided to pay him his full salary of £300, provided that he refunded to the Bureau any balance there might be from his military pay after deducting reasonable personal expenses.

The Committee discussed the action to be taken in the event of a restriction in the supply of paper rendering it necessary to curtail the publications of the Bureau. Dr. Shipley suggested that shorter abstracts should be published, but Professor Nuttall pointed out that all the books, etc., that required to be noticed would not admit

* No. 74.

† Annexure to these minutes.