310 NOTES AND COMMENTS [NOVEMBER 
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, eg. 
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. 8. Palmer, entitled “The Danger of introducing 
Noxious Animals and Birds,” in the Year-book 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 hke 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 (Jeerya 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 
