The Insect World: Being a Popular Account of the Orders of Insects; Together with a Description of the Habits and Economy of Some of the Most Interesting SpeciesFiguier, Louis
Science
The Insect World: Being a Popular Account of the Orders of Insects; Together with a Description of the Habits and Economy of Some of the Most Interesting Species
Figuier, Louis
Insects
"A most remarkable feature in the bite of the Tsetse is its perfect
harmlessness in man and wild animals, and even calves so long as they
continue to suck the cows. We never experienced the slightest injury
from them ourselves personally, although we lived two months in their
habitat, which was in this case as sharply defined as in many others,
for the south bank of the Chobe was infested by them, and the northern
bank, where our cattle were placed, only fifty yards distant,
contained not a single specimen. This was the more remarkable, as we
often saw natives carrying over raw meat to the opposite bank with
many Tsetses settled on it.
"The poison does not seem to be injected by a sting, or by ova placed
beneath the skin, for, when one is allowed to feed freely on the hand,
it is seen to insert the middle prong of three portions, into which
the proboscis divides, somewhat deeply, into the true skin. It then
draws it out a little way, and it assumes a crimson colour, as the
mandibles come into brisk operation. The previously-shrunken belly
swells out, and, if left undisturbed, the fly quietly departs when it
is full. A slight itching irritation follows, but not more than in the
bite of the mosquito. In the ox this same bite produces no more
immediate effects than in man. It does not startle him, as the gad-fly
does; but a few days afterwards the following symptoms supervene: the
eyes and nose begin to run, the coat stares as if the animal were
cold, a swelling appears under the jaw, and sometimes on the navel;
and, though the animal continues to graze, emaciation commences,
accompanied with a peculiar flaccidity of the muscles, and this
proceeds unchecked until, perhaps months afterwards, purging comes on,
and the animal, no longer able to graze, perishes in the state of
extreme exhaustion. Those which are in good condition often perish,
soon after the bite is inflicted, with staggering and blindness, as if
the brain were affected by it. Sudden changes of temperature produced
by falls of rain seem to hasten the progress of the complaint; but in
general the emaciation goes on uninterruptedly for months, and, do
what we will, the poor animals perish miserably.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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