432 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 84 



work in New Orleans in 1905, were loaned to the International 

 Health Board for this purpose. 



Dr. F. W. Coding, of the United States, was Consul General at 

 Guayaquil from 1913 to 1924. Doctor Coding is a trained entomolo- 

 gist, and at one time (before he entered the Consular Service) did 

 some admirable entomological work in Illinois. In Guayaquil he made 

 a number of interesting observations, and has written me a most 

 interesting letter about the plague of crickets which comes on in 

 Guayaquil within a day or two after the wet season begins. They 

 enter the. city in countless billions and are a frightful plague. He 

 says that on one occasion, on the appearance of the crickets, thou- 

 sands of sea gulls came inland to feed upon the insects, with such 

 good effect that the plague was materially lessened both for that 

 year and the following year. Thus this experience paralleled the 

 old-time invasion of Salt Lake Valley by sea gulls in the early days 

 of the Mormon settlement, to the great relief of the inhabitants whose 

 crops were being eaten up by the so-called " Mormon cricket." In the 

 Ecuador case the species seems to have been Gryllns a^similis Fab- 

 ricius, a field cricket of very wide distribution. 



For a number of years Prof. F. Campos R. has been State Zool- 

 ogist of Ecuador. He is Professor of Natural Sciences in the 

 National College of Vicente Rocafuerte. The published list of his 

 principal scientific works comprises 82 titles, of which a number are 

 entomological articles of economic importance, most of them relating 

 to medical entomology, but some to agricultural entomology. 



Some years ago Professor Campos collaborated with the Federal 

 Horticultural Board of the United States Department of Agriculture 

 in the study of tropical fruit insects. He is a very enthusiastic ento- 

 mologist. Doctor Coding writes of him, " His whole life is wrapped 

 up in entomology." His articles have been published mainly in the 

 Revista del Colegio Nacional Vicente Rocafuerte, which is now in 

 its 1 2th volume and is issued in " trimestral " parts. This seems to 

 mean that three parts are published with each number, but the 

 numbers themselves may cover irregular periods. Thus, the loth 

 volume includes January to December, 1928, incorporating Nos. 

 32 to 35; and the nth volume runs from January to June, 1929, 

 and includes Nos. 36 to 37. Professor Campos seems to be growing 

 more energetic as the years pass by. I have received no less than 

 10 pamphlets from him that were published during the year 1929. 

 One of these discusses the timely topic as to whether the Mediter- 

 ranean fruit-fly exists in Ecuador. 



