286 JOURNAL OP THE TRINIDAD 



" On some Orchid Pests " dealing with some of the insects which 

 are injurious to Orchids and the means of getting rid of them ; 

 amongst these he mentioned the Cockroaches as being the chief 

 evil-doers, but there were also scale insects, bugs, beetles 

 and caterpillars that were not to be despised. Among the 

 beetles one species turned out to be new belonging to the 

 Stethobaris, a reference to which in a letter from Mr. L. 0. 

 Howard was read. The paper was illustrated by specimens 

 of the insects and the havoc they work. A discussion took place 

 in which all present took part. — Mr. Caracciolo then followed with 

 a paper of an economic nature dealing with the insect enemies 

 of some of our most useful fruit trees such as orange, guava, star 

 apples, &c, the sugar cane disease was also referred to. A long 

 discussion took place at the conclusion of which Dr. Rodriguez, Mr. 

 Devenish and the President referred to the presence of maggots 

 and worms in most of our fruit, a fault which was not known in 

 the neighbouring colonies and a hope was expressed that Mr. 

 Caracciolo would endeavour to find out in the interest of the 

 colony a remedy for this evil. — Mr. Caracciolo said although this 

 did not exactly come within the scope of his researches but 

 belonged more to the Botanical Department, yet he would 

 endeavour to find out a method which would tend to lessen this 

 liability of attack from maggots. Perhaps what had been said 

 would induce others to take up the subject. 



Mr. Mole said that he had found the following extract in 

 Oliver Goldsmith's History of the Earth and Animal Nature, 

 Vol. IV. " Father Labat took a serpent of the viper kind, that 

 " was nine feet long, and ordered it to be opened in his presence. 

 " In this creature there were six eggs, each of the size of a goose 

 " e oS> but longer, more pointed and covered with a membranous 

 " skin by which also they were united to each other. Each of 

 " these eggs contained from thirteen to fifteen young ones about 

 " six inches long and as thick as a goose quill. Though the 

 "female from whence they were taken was spotted, the young 

 " seemed to have a variety of colours very different from the 

 " parent, and this led the traveller to suppose that the colour 

 '• was no characteristic mark among serpents. These little mis- 

 " chievous animals were no sooner let loose from the shell than 

 "they crept about and put themselves into a threatening posture, 

 " coiling themselves up, and biting the stick with which he 

 "destroyed them. In this manner he killed 74 young ones; 

 " those that were contained in one of the eggs escaped at the 

 " place where the female was killed by the bursting of the egg 

 "and their getting among the bushes." Father Labat, Mr. 

 Mole continued, was, he believed, for a long time in Grenada, and 

 it was interesting in this connection to note that Mr. Broadway 

 had forwarded to Trinidad a tree boa nearly allied to our Cascabel 



