270 



Englisb papers reports of similar abundauce ot tbe grass caterpillar, 

 Cliarcvas (jntmiuis, in iiortlierii Europe, especially during- the past two 

 years, and in The Entomologist for October, 1804, there is an interest- 

 ing article by liobert Service concerning the recent abundance of this 

 latter species in southern Scotland. He mentions one place where the 

 drains and ditches were found in many cases to have been filled up with 

 larva? after heavy rainfalls, the masses of caterpillars lying, in some 

 places, from 20 to 24 inches in depth. Anglers found every trout cap- 

 tured literally crammed to the mouth with these larvie. The coincidence 

 of the appearance of this insect in such extraordinary numbers with 

 the outbreak of the vicarious army worm in the eastern part of this 

 country is interesting, and indicates a similarity of weather conditions. 



THE BUTTERFLY HUNTERS IN THE CARIBBEES. 



Scribners have just published a handsome little volume under the 

 above title, by Dr. Eugene Murray- Aaron, of New York. The book' is 

 intended for young people, and gives an interesting account of a Jour- 

 ney made by two boys of fourteen and sixteen, under the care of an 

 experienced traveler and naturalist, to the Bahamas, Haiti, and Jamaica. 

 The object of the trip was primarily to collect butterflies, but general 

 collections in other groups were also made, and the author has brought 

 in many interesting historical and ethnological passages concerning 

 the islands and the people inhabiting them. One who expects from the 

 title a strictly entomological work will be disappointed, but there are 

 many interesting entomological notes, and the volume is well calcu- 

 lated to hold the attention not only of the class for whom it was 

 designed, but also of persons who are in any degree interested in natu- 

 ral history. The i)erson reading it, in fact, can not but become more 

 interested in nature. It is the intention of the author to follow it by 

 another volume describing a journey by the same individuals to Central 

 America. To the entomologist the book is chiefly interesting for its 

 account of the methods used by insect collectors in tropical countries, 

 a subject with which Dr. Murray- Aaron is perfectly familiar from per- 

 sonal experience. He has traveled over the entire ground in which the 

 scenes are laid, and leaves nothing to hearsay. 



DAMAGE BY ABBOTT'S BAGWORM. 



Mrs. Annie Trumbull Slosson, in the Journal of the New York En to 

 mological Society for September, 1894, states that at Punta Gorda, Fla., 

 the baskets of Oiketicu.s abhottii were very numerous on various trees 

 and shrubs. Orange and lemon trees were sometimes completely 

 defoliated. Upon one Japanese plum they hung by hundreds, one 

 small twig sometimes carrying eight or more, hanging not half an inch 

 apart. Fortunately this insect is readily destroyed by an arsenical 

 spray. 



