Vol. XIV. No. 355. 



THE ACKICULTl'UAL NEWS 



395 



SNAILS AND BLACK BLIGHT. 



Observations recently made in a garden near Bridgetown 

 on the habits of a certain comm >n snail which eats the layer 



iv mould or 'black blight' from the leaves "I lime and 

 other trees have led to a c impai lie recorded insl 



-mill ii kind. 



There are several notes on thu subject from Florida, 

 where the prevalenci oty mould on citrus tro 



led to careful study and experiment with all the agencies 



which seemed to pr ise some measure of natural control. 



Lt i- said that without artificial protection the snails which 

 possess this habit rarely reduce the sooty mould appreci 

 ably "ii more than a few trees al a time. When they are 



mi, however, well blackened trees oiaj be entirely 

 cleansed of sooty mould, leaving the fruit rinds and the 

 ■ of the leaves bright and glossy. The placing of 

 straw cm the ground and the hanging of pieces of burlap 

 in the main branches are suggested as a protection for the 

 ggo ,,i the Florida species. It dues aot seem, however, 



ttempts to increase the numbers of the snails have had 

 any notable success. 



According t i information kindly supplied by the Revd. 

 X. B. Watson, the Barbados snail referred to is Orthalicus 

 zebra, n variable species with a range extending from Magadan 

 to Mexico, I'au. una .mil Florida, along the northern parts of 

 South America, and several of the West Indian islands. It 

 is an introduced speciesin Barbad is, tnd confines itself to the 

 neighb of Bridgetown. Attempts on the part of 



Mi. Watson to establish it in the drier parish of St. Philip 

 have failed. 



It will be if interest to learn whether this snail or other 



snails feeding on sooty mould have I □ observed in other 



West Indian islands 



INTRODUCING THE JACK SPANIARD 

 INTO ST. LUCIA. 

 In the Agricultural News for September II, page 298, 

 an article appears "n West Indian wasps, showing their dis- 

 tribution in the different islands, and their value in controlling 

 certain crop pests. In view ot the fact that the so-called 

 Jack Spaniard, which LS of great value in St. Vincent in 



controlling cotton worm, has practically died out in Grenada, 



and does not appear to exist in St. Lucia, it was requested 



by the Imperial Department that the St. Vincent agricultural 

 authorities might make arrangements tor the introduction of 

 this wasp into the islands referred to. In both places, it was 



thought, the insects might prove valuable. 



Quite recent!} a letter h is been received from Mr. A. J. 



Brooks, Agricultural Superintendent, St. Lucia, stating that 



iignment ol the St. Vincent Jack Spaniard has been 



safely received. The box contains a large quantity of nests, 



and over fifty insects had hatched OUt during transit, and 

 were in excellent condition. It may be pointed out that the 



method adopted in sending the wasps was the same as that 



employed when this insect was sent >me years ago to Mont 



serrat namely, combs were sent with sealed brood carefully 



[to lighl boxes. Afteril i in St. Lucia the box 



wa s placed in a heltei previously prepared in a banana plot, 



with a growing cover crop of hi - badly atl icked with 



worm-. Tim wasps were liberated. Eatching continues 



daily, and tin- wasps have been observed feeding on the worms 



en 6 and 7 am., this apparently being their mosl active 



period. Mi. Brooks says that, judging from the energetic 



way the wasps have started work, n looks as it they may 



■ uti- the cheapest md most effective mean- of control 



,,t the worm, which has made it difficult, up to the pi 



to grow leguminous green dressing crop it b- men. 



INTERESTING CASES OF ANTHRAX. 



In view ot i he imporfcanci t il parts of 



the West [ndies, the following interesting cases 



ded in the Annual Reporl of the < Ihief Veterinary 

 'in, i lor tin yeai 1914, to the Board of Agriculture 

 ami Fisheries, England, arc abstract' d 



A number ol interesting cases ol .mt in . ■ h i ire cone- to 

 our notice during the year, and a short summarj of ea :h may 

 not be considered out of place in this article: 



In February anthrax bacilli wi in a dressed 



carcase of beef by Veterinary Inspectors in an abattoir. 



In March anthrax bacilli were also |,,und in the hind- 

 quarters of a year-old bovine in the same abattoir. 



Both carcases had been slaughtered and dressed in 

 Ireland, and consigned to Scotland for sale. 



A bullock suffering from anthrax was bled by the owner, 

 and a dog drank a large quantity of the blood. Nine days 

 later the dog died, and anthrax bacilli were found in specimens 

 of its blood sent to the Laboratory. 



A cat also ate a portion of the can ml died three 



days later. Unfortunately, its blood was not sent to the 



Laboratory for examination, but it is ex< dingly probable 



the cat died of anthrax. 



In another outbreak a cat gained access to the carcase 

 of a heifer which had died of anthrax The cat died, and 

 ant In ix bacilli were found in a specimen of its blood when 

 examined at the Laboratory. 



The deaths from anthrax of the dog and two cats is 

 worthy of mention in order to impress on stock owners the 

 necessity for guarding such carcases from flesh eating 

 animals. The death of a dog or a cat is perhaps not very 

 serious, but it must not be forgotten that ■■■ aes and felines 

 are capable of .spreading the disease by c ng portions of 

 the flesh over large distances. 



In connexion with the editorial in issue on the 



Museum in practice, we may call attentio i an article on 

 the standards and functions of museums lich appears in 

 Naturt for September 23, 1915. This, reviewing the 

 of the American Museum of Nat i History, calls 

 attention to the tendency to spectacular i i il \ and to the 

 desirability of not confusing purely techn subjects with 

 scientific ones. An excellent feature of some 'i the American 

 museums is that in addition to lectures o children and 

 teachers, special room- are set apart in the museums for 

 children's collections, while this work is supplemented by 

 travelling museums sent round from school to school by means 

 of motar vans. Something of ihis kind, it is suggested, 

 might well lie imitated in England. 



A peculiarity of the camphor oil produced in the 

 Federated Malay States is the absence .it ifrole to which 



constituent the oil produ I in Japan largely owes its 



commercial value. It appears probable that the absence of 

 safrole in samples so far collected is due to the fact that the 

 distillate is obtained from young twigs and leaves in the 

 F.MS., whereas in the ordinary Japanese camphor oil of 

 the distillate is derived from old wood from 

 matured toe-. The Agricultural Bulletin of the Federated 

 Malay Statu (July 1915) from which this information is 

 taken, add- further that a specimen of camphor oil distilled 

 from leaves and twin's in ' urinaii East Africa, also contained 

 no sal role 



