Luxmoore (1950) lists three breeds of cattle in this Province. The huge, big humped, short legged, short horned Taposa breed of Eastern District is guessed to number from 60,000 to 70,000 head. It will be generations before a thorough study of cattle tick relations can be undertaken in this fascinating, wild area. The second, or Mongalla breed, is a dwarf East African zebu, less than four feet high, with thin skin, fine coat, nervous disposi_ tion, and considerable agility. This isolated mountain breed is much less common than the Taposa. The Didinga mountain cattle may represent a separate breed. Long-horned Nilotic type cattle, for which the Sudan is famed, are kept in small numbers near the Nile by the Mandari, Bari, and Nyangwara tribes. Nilotic cattle were frequently brought into various parts of the Province, mostly for slaughter, during the period of the present study. In Torit District small herds of mixed Mongalla Taposa breeds exist in tsetse free areas. Juba District, once an important cattle area, now possesses only small herds as does Yei District except for the Kajo Kaji area. A strong cattle tradition from the nineteenth century persists in this area. A hundred square miles of tsetse free area around Kajo Kaji support some 15,000 Kuku tribesmen and some 6000 head of Mongalla cattle. Westward, very few cattle are maintained except for a few government herds and isolated groups such as the Lanya herd that remains to this day after having been saved from Arab slave traders by being hidden in Lanya Hill caves.

A. variegatum is represented in practically every collection from cattle throughout the Province but the few collections from the west bank contain many more specimens than those from the east bank. B. decoloratus, also common from Torit westward, is rare or absent east of Torit except in the mountains. Varying numbers of R. e. evertsi frequently parasitize cattle in many parts of the Province. Several species are common only in certain Districts. A. lepidum and R. pravus, most numerous in Eastern District, are less common in Torit District and extremely rare or absent to the west. B. annulatus is scattered throughout the west bank but rare or absent on the east bank except possibly in the mountains. Other species entirely or largely restricted to east bank mountains are H. aciculifer, H. parmata, and R. kochi. Species that are almost entirely restricted to Yei District are R. appendiculatus, R. muhlensi, and A. pomposum; the latter two Small collections from scattered localities include

are rare.

H. rufipes, H. truncatum, R. s. sanguineus, and R. s. simus. An exceptionally large collection of the last named species from Juba is inexplicable.

SHEEP

Smaller numbers of sheep run with the goat herds of east bank tribes. Except for the Taposa fat-tailed breed of Eastern District and a few in mountainous areas, Equatoria sheep are "miserable little beasts that always look prepared to give up the unequal struggle with the least encouragement" (Luxmoore 1950).

Ticks are seldom if ever numerous on sheep in this Province. Small numbers of R. e. evertsi are found everywhere. In Eastern District, R. pravus Is common and A. lepidum occurs on some hosts. In Yei District, R. appendiculatus parasitizes sheep in some num bers. Small numbers of A. variegatum, B. decoloratus, H. truncatum, R. s. sanguineus, and R. s. simus also attack sheep in various localities.

GOATS

Goats are kept by all tribes from Yei District eastward and large numbers exist in Torit District where they largely substitute for cattle as food and dowry. Although far from impressive in ap pearance, goats thrive on the east bank and in parts of Yei Dis trict. Their importance as tick hosts is difficult to assess. Hundreds were found to be free of ticks but several collections suggest that goats must not be overlooked in epidemiological considerations.

Those goats that are tick infested harbor the same species as sheep. R. s. sanguineus, however, is somewhat more numerous and frequent on goats but R. s. simus is scarce. In Katire and Kajo Kaji collections, nymphal A. variegatum were present in good numbers. At Loronyo and Kajo Kaji large numbers of nymphal R. e. evertsi were also found.

MISCELLANEOUS SITUATIONS

ON GRASS

Small numbers of adults of R. kochi, R. s. sanguineus, R. s. simus, and R. simus senegalensis and A. variegatum were collected from grass at various localities. The only specimens of A. rhino cerotis, D. c. circumguttatus, and D. rhinocerinus known from the Sudan were taken on grass.

MAMMAL BURROWS AND DENS

Mammal burrows and dens should be carefully studied in Equa toria Province. A special trip planned to investigate this important aspect of tick biology was cancelled due to unsettled condi tions in southern Sudan. See pages 792 and 793.

BAHR EL GHAZAL PROVINCE*

All statements below pertain to the Galual Nyang Forest un less other localities are specified. For a description of this forest, see Reid (1955). The Galual Nyang Forest, Yirol, and Wau areas have been moderately well explored for ticks, although much remains to be accomplished in this region. Scattered records for other localities noted on Figure 3 have been obtained. The western half of the Province should yield many interesting new data.

*Data from this Province result chiefly from the energy and interest of Mr. E. T. M. Reid, veterinary entomologist, and to his associates on the Tsetse Survey and Reclamation Team, Messrs. N. A. Hancock, A. W. Wild, P. J. Henshaw, W. I. A. Dees, P. Blasdale, and H. C. Brayne, under the direction of Mr. T. W. Chorley. Our own visit to Wau and the Galual Nyang Forest, at the invitation of Mr. J. T. R. Evans, formerly Director, Sudan Veterinary Service, and as a guest of Mr. Chorley, produced many worthwhile specimens and observations due largely to the courtesy and assistance of the persons mentioned above. In this and the following Provinces, a small amount of host data omitted from the main body of this work are included.

The western half of Bahr El Ghazal is poor, hilly country with uneven rainfall, more or less dense forests with tsetse flies, and few permanent herds of cattle. The eastern half is character_ ized by rich dry season meadows, or toich, along the numerous rivers, several lakes, and the northern "Nile sponge" area that becomes a vast lake during the rains. Large numbers of livestock are main tained in eastern Bahr El Ghazal and restricted populations of the big game animals of Africa reach their northern limit here.

REPTILIA

No records for monitor lizards or tortoises are available from this Province. A number of specimens of A. latum have been taken from cobras and pythons in the eastern sector.

AVES

Infestations of Francolinus clappertoni by nymphs of A. variegatum in the Forest area are heavier and much more common than those observed in Equatoria. A female H. h. hoodi was found on a tchagra shrike. Near the Kordofan border and near Yirol several adults of R. s. sanguineus and a single male A. lepidum, respectively, were taken from two greater bustards.

MAMMALIA

Thirty HEDGEHOGS, Atelerix pruneri oweni, were examined; six were infested by two to four adult R. s. sanguineus and a total of five male H. leachii muhsami. A male and female of the latter tick were also collected from a hedgehog by Mr. Reid.

Although Mr. Reid examined some BATS, no ticks were obtained.

Among primates, some fifty GALAGOS, or bushbabies, examined by Dr. T. Work and the writer were uninfested. A number of BABOONS from several large families throughout the Forest were also free of ticks, but all old male hobos wandering alone were infested by several to two hundred adult R. s. simus. British Museum (Natural History) collections contain a few adult R. s. sanguineus from a baboon at Kenisa (on the Bahr El Ghazal Upper Nile border).

HARES were seldom collected.

Seven adult R. s. sanguineus

specimens from one host are represented.

GROUND SQUIRRELS, Euxerus erythropus subsp., are common in the Forest. Five squirrels obtained in February yielded twelve males, six females, and four nymphs of H. houyi.

Small MURID RODENTS have not been collected and searched in this Province. Twelve male and six female H. leachii muhsami were found on a small rodent burrowing in a termite mound.

CANE RATS (THRYONOMY IDAE) are not known to be infested by R. simpsoni in this Province but an unusual record of two male R. s. simus from a cane rat at Yirol was obtained by Mr. Reid, who also found a nymph of A. variegatum on a cane rat 37 miles west of Yirol.

CARNIVORES have received considerably less attention than antelopes, buffalos, giraffes, and warthogs in this Province. A black legged mongoose in the Forest (May) was infested by sixteen adult H. leachii muhsami, another at Yirol (January) by only a single male of this species. A leopard 36 miles south of Yirol bore two males of the same tick as well as a male and three females of R. sulcatus. Another mongoose in the Forest was in fested by adults of R. s. simus, a tick also represented by a single male from a hyena, seven adults from a leopard, and a male from a lion. A hyena at Yirol yielded a male H. 1. leachii and seven adult R. s. simus. It is of some interest that no specimens of R. s. sanguineus were recovered from carnivores.

ELEPHANTS in this Province appear to be outside the geographic range of their usual parasites, A. tholloni and D. c. circumguttatus. Small to moderately large numbers of R. s. simus and R. simus senegalensis infested every elephant examined in the southeastern spur of this Province (including Kenisa on the Upper Nile Province border). In the case of R. s. simus, both sexes were taken on elephants during each season of the year. Mr. Chorley, who shot several elephants in the western part of the Province, stated that no ticks infested these animals.

No specimens of RHINOCEROS were examined but seven male and six female D. rhinocerinus on grass from two localities near Yirol suggest this tick's infestation of those animals that do occur.