143 



young chickens, the best preventive being flowers of sulphur dusted 

 among the feathers ; Cnemidocoptes mutans, Rob. & Lang, (scaly 

 leg mite), which causes a disease best treated by soaking the feet and 

 legs in warm water for several minutes to loosen the scales and then 

 treating the diseased surface with a mixture of oil of caraway, one 

 part, and lard or vaseline, four parts, or with sulphur ointment ; 

 C. laevis var. gallinue, Raill. (depluming mite), controlled by the 

 same parasiticides ; Echidno])haga {SarcopsyUa) gallinacea, Westw. 

 [see this Review, Ser. B, iii, pp. 148, 232] ; Ceratophyllus avium, Tasch. 

 (European hen flea), controlled by the application of crude oil to the 

 floors, sides and crevices of the hen-house ; Cimex {Acanthia) spp., 

 especially C. {A.) inodorus (Mexican chicken bug), C. (A.) liirundinis 

 (swallow bug), C. {A.) columharius (pigeon bug), and C {A.) leclularius 

 (bed-bug), controlled by fumigating the chicken-house with sulphur, 

 or by spraying it with a mixture of one-third gasoline and two-thirds 

 coal oil. 



Reidy (J. B.). Cattle Tick Eradication. — Texas Depf. Agiic, Austin, 

 Bull. no. 57, Proc. 7th Meeting Texas State Farmers' Institute, 



1917, pp. 17-23. [Received 15th May 1918.] 



An account is given of the history of tick eradication in the United 

 States. The life-history of Margaropus annvlatus, the only species of 

 tick causing Texas fever, is described and the losses caused by the 

 disease are discussed. The methods of eradication include control 

 in the pasture and on the cattle. The former consists of excluding 

 cattle, horses and mules from pastures until all the ticks have 

 died from starvation, the pasture crops being rotated in the mean- 

 time. The objection to this method is the time required, during 

 which the pastures cannot be used for cattle. The practice of dipping 

 is described and is recommended as the most practicable and effective 

 method of applying disinfectants to destroy ticks on cattle. 



In the course of the discussion following the reading of this paper, 

 the follo^\dng formula for a dipping solution was recommended : 

 Arsenic , 8 lb. ; sal soda, 8 lb. ; caustic soda, 5 lb. ; pine tar, 1 U.S. 

 gal. ; water, 500 U.S. gals. 



Mosquitos and the War. Entom. News, Philadelphia, xxix. no. 5, May 



1918, p. 191. 



Quoting from the Public Ledger, Philadelphia, it is reported that a 

 decision was reached at a meeting of the State War Board in Harris- 

 burg, to free the Hog Island shipbuilding zone of disease-breeding 

 moscpiitos. The work will be done under the direction of the State 

 Department of Health, with the help of the experts who assisted in 

 sirnilar work in the Panama Canal Zone. Large sums for this purpose 

 have been contributed by various public bodies, headed by the State 

 War Board. The money will be expended in a drainage and pumping 

 station. Two wells will be dug and two pumping stations erected 

 and the swamp water treated with oil to kill the larvae. By this 

 means it is hoped successfully to combat the mosquitos, which, if 

 allowed to breed, would stop the night shifts working on the Federal 

 ships and reduce the efl&ciency of the plant by half. 



