22 



yaupon. lu the extraction of the volatile oil; by boilinp^ the substance 

 ■with water, and extracting the oil from th3 distillate \vit!i ether;* a trace 

 of caffeine was fonnd with the oil; provinj? that this alkaloid is carried 

 off inechauically when tea or coffee is boiled. 



The percentage of tannic acid only includes that dissolved hy ether ; 

 another portion exists in the insoluble residue, probably- combiued with 

 legumin. 



Yaupon is used by many persons in the South as a stimulant and aa 

 a substitute for intoxicating liquors; audit is also said to be very grate- 

 ful to inebriates who are curing themselves of their love of liquor. 



•As the physiological effects of tea and coffee are due to the joint 

 action of tlie volatile oil, caffeine, and the tannin which tliey contain, it 

 may be well to compare the percentages of these substances found in 

 yaupon, with the results obtained by other chemists in their analyses 

 of tea and coffee: 



By comparing these figures it will be evident that yaupon is about 

 equal to mate (Paraguay tea) in the amount of caffeine which it con- 

 tains, and that it is far below either tea or coffee in its percentages of 

 valuable constituents. 



It is veiy probable that several other indigenous plants may contain 

 caffeine — forexample, common holly, the black alder, andthe ''inkberry" 

 plant — and it is proposed to test these as soon as proper samples can 

 be secured. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL RECORD. 



Destructive grasshoppers in Calipornia. — A. letter written in 

 June, 1871, from Mr. Alexander S. Taylor, of Santa Barbara, California, 

 giving a very interesting account of the ravages committed in that 

 State by the Pacific migratory locust or grasshopper, which he errone- 

 ously supposed to be merely a variety of Caloptenm spretus, (Uhler,) but 

 ■which has been decided to be CEilipoda atrox of Scudder, (Fig. 1,) b^^ 

 Bev. Cyrus Thomas, who has made this family his especial study. Mr. 

 Fig. 1. Taylor writes that " this year the insect ap- 



^ peared simultaneously in the Salinas, San Joa- 



" ~\ quin, Los Angelos, Sacramento, and Santa Bar- 



/;^ bara Counties, in May and June.'" In Mr. 

 Scudder's notes on the Ortlioptera collected by 

 Hayden's Geological Survey in Nebraska, we 

 find the species mentioned ami described, and 

 in the same article Mr. Scudder gives quotations 

 from I\Ir. Taylor in the Smithsonian Keport for 

 „: ,, „ ,. ,::^ 1858, and from tlie California Fanner, of Jan- 



"■^^ "^ nary If), the same year, from which it ai)pears 



that the insect was exceedingly numerous and destructive before the 

 present season. In July, 1805, the Sacramento Union stated that for 



r.ijC.v 



j^ 



