3 io NOTES AND COMMENTS [novbmbeb 



their debt to man by destroying a few weeds, they may by their 

 chirping cheer the heart of the simple, and they have enabled Mr. 

 Bumpus to make an interesting study on variation, but on the whole 

 they are a pest. Mr. Palmer, to whose article on dangerous intro- 

 ductions we shall immediately refer, says that the English bird " is now 

 present in every state and territory, with half a dozen exceptions, and 

 is known as a pest to nearly every one in the eastern United States. 

 It has begun to spread in Argentina, while in Australia it is even 

 more troublesome than in this country. It has also gained a foothold 

 in Hawaii and numerous islands in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian 

 Oceans." Most vigorous attempts have been made to get rid of it, e.g. 

 the attempt last spring to expel it from Boston Common, but the 

 sparrow holds its own. It is to be hoped that the proposal to intro- 

 duce the English starling to counteract the English sparrow will not 

 commend itself, for the evidence of antagonism seems very slim, and 

 the cure might be worse than the disease. 



In an article by T. S. Palmer, entitled " The Danger of introducing 

 Noxious Animals and Birds," in the Year-look of the Department of 

 Agriculture (U.S.A.) for 1898 (pp. 87-110, illustrated), of which the 

 author gives an abstract in Science (x. 1899, pp. 174-176), some good 

 examples will be found. 



The mongoose, introduced into Jamaica in 1872 to keep down the 

 rats, has multiplied like the rabbits in Australia and New Zealand, 

 and while effectually reducing the rats, has proceeded to a wholesale 

 destruction of poultry, game, ground-nesting birds of various kinds, 

 reptiles, and even fruits. " The decrease of birds was followed by a 

 marked increase in certain insect pests, but recent reports indicate 

 that the mongoose is diminishing somewhat in numbers, and some of 

 the birds are increasing, so that both native and introduced species 

 are adapting themselves to new conditions." In Hawaii the record is 

 similar, but the mongoose has not yet become such a nuisance as in 

 Jamaica. 



In the Scientific American for August 26, 1899, p. 140, Dr. C. 

 M. Blackford recalls some other instances. In 1868 Leopold Trouvelot, 

 an entomologist, was unfortunate enough to allow some imported 

 gypsy moths (Porthetria dispar) to escape through an open window. 

 In twenty years they had become a scourge, and we have more than 

 once in our columns referred to their devastations and to the immense 

 sums which have been expended in trying to counteract them. It is 

 at last possible to say that the pest is under control, but the cost of 

 its suppression has been enormous. 



A happier instance of introduction is found in the well-known 

 story of the fluted scale {Icerya purchasi) brought to California from 

 Australia to the great damage of the orange and lemon groves, but 

 effectively checked by the further introduction of the red " lady-bug " 

 or vedalia (Novius cardinalis). " Within a short space of time the 



