359 



A MOSQUITO EXTERMINATOR. 



The Indian Medical Record for March 16 says that a Bombay news- 

 paper calls attention to the virtnes of the castor-oil plant as a means 

 of protection against mosquitoes. In Egypt it is planted about houses 

 to drive the insects away. In towns a better plan is to have the grow- 

 ing plants in pots, and bring them into the house for a day or two 

 at a time, but they must not be kept too long- in the shade, for the 

 Palma christi is a sun-loving plant. A writer is cited as saying that 

 the mosquitoes are killed by a poison that they find on the lower side 

 of the leaf, but it is stated that if a dozen leaves are placed about a 

 room that swarms with mosquitoes they will disappear without leaving 

 any dead ones lying about.— fi^. Y. Med. Journ., 1893, No. 10, p. 446. 



THE HORN FLY IN CANADA. 



Mr. A. F. Winn, in No. 5, Vol. v, of the Canadian Record of Science, 

 publishes a short article on the subject of the Horn Fly, in which he 

 compiles an interesting account of the habits and life-history of the 

 species and publishes a well written letter from Mr. W. A. Oswald, oi 

 Belleriviere, Quebec, concerning the first appearance of the insect iu 

 his locality, which is about 20 miles from Montreal. It seems that the 

 Horn Fly was first observed about the middle of July, 1802, although 

 the probabilities are that it occurred in small numbers in that locality 

 in 1801, since we have invariably found this to be the case on our side 

 of the border. Young cattle seem to suffer m<n'e than older animals, 

 and train oil was found to keep the flies away for from five to six days. 



RECENT STUDIES UPON LACHNIDIUM ACRIDIORUM Gd. 



Upon page 151 of Volume IV we reviewed the investigations of MM 

 Kiinckel and Langlois of the cryptogamic disease which sometimes 

 attacks the Migratory Locust {Schistocerca peregrina Ol.) of Africa, giv 

 ing the authors' conclusion that the prospect of exterminating th( 

 Migratory Locust in Algeria by means of this disease was not encourag 

 ing. The fungus in question was determined by M. A. Giard as Lack 

 nidiuni acridiornm n. sp. We have received a pamphlet extracted iron 

 the Revue Generale de Botanique, Tome iv, 1802, p. 440, in which Proi 

 Giard gives the results of his latest studies of this question. It appeari 

 that the most extravagant statements have been made in the publi< 

 press as to the usefulness of the disease in exterminating locusts, on. 

 writer declaring that the solution of the problem has been found no 

 only for locusts, but probably for all injurious insects. M. Giard de 

 plores these unfounded statements, since his investigations, as well a 

 those of MM. Kiinckel and Langlois, show conclusively that the fungu 

 is a purely superficial and not very malignant malady, that contami 

 nation takes place with difficulty between diseased and healthy indi 

 viduals, even when placed in the same receptacle and uniting sexually 



