16 



A sample of this product grown and cured at the Eoyal Botanic 

 Gardens lias been valued in London (October) at 1/3 per pound. 



The tree is easily cultivated, and thrives in the same soil and 

 unde'^ the same conditions as Cacao. 



Plants can be obtained at the Eoyal Botanic Gardens. 



The curing of the product is very simple and inexpensive. 



J. H. Hart, F.L.S. 

 24:th November, 1894. 



Botanical Department, Trinidad. — Circular Note No 14. 



On Saturday, the 13th of October, I had brought to me a specimen 

 of the Spiny Rat — Loncheres Guiana — which had been found feeding 

 on a fruit tree in the Eoyal Botanic Gardens. 



On examination the animal was found to be affected with the 

 parasite, known in Trinidad as the " Mosquito "Worm," whose life- 

 history up to the present has been but imperfectly known. 



The Eat was placed in a finely netted cage, and on October 22nd, 

 or nine days after it was captured, the animal rid itself of the parasite, 

 and the latter assumed the chrysalis stage, in one of the cage corners. 



The chrysalis was a hard body, almost black, with nine segments, 

 and in form slightly tapered to opposite ends. It was over one inch 

 and a quarter in length, and measured five-eighths of an inch in 

 diameter in its broadest part. 



The chrysalis was kept in damp earth, and on December 3rd, the 

 perfect insect emerged. The insect proved to belong to the Order 

 Diptera or the two-winged flies — and it is among the largest of its 

 class. It measures over one inch in length, and in spread of wing, 

 nearly two inches, the body having the thickness of an ordinary lead 

 pencil. The insect is to be placed with the CEstridce, a well known 

 family, parasitic on animals. 



The puncture in the skin of the Eat on which the fly was 

 developed healed in two or three days. 



The Eat, the Fly, and the Cocoon from which the latter emerged 

 can be seen at the Gardens. 



The term " Mosquito Worm" is therefore proved to be erroneously 



applied. 



J. H. Hart, F.L.S. 

 3rd December. 1894. 



