408 



of liis researches iu the Comptes Rendus de la Societe de Biologie, April, 

 1892. The disease manifests itself by patches of a whitish eruption, 

 mainly upon the lips, forehead, around the eyes and ears, and upon the 

 neck of the animal, the mite causing the disease {Sarcoptes wmor Furst) 

 being found in vast numbers beneath the crusts of this eruption. The 

 author's experiments upon the transmissibility of the disease were made 

 by removing these crusts, with the insects beneath, from a diseased to a 

 healthy subject. M. Eailliet thinks it would be premature to draw from 

 his experiments any fixed conclusions, and gives the following as the 

 results of his investigations: 



(1) That it was impossible for him to transmit the itch caused by 

 Sarcoptes minor from the rabbit to other rabbits, or to cats, to rats, or 

 dogs; 



(2) That it is easily transmitted from cat to cat; 



(3) That it is transmitted only with great diflBculty from the cat to 

 the rabbit; and 



(4:) That rabbits which have contracted the disease from a cat can 

 transmit it to other rabbits. 



FUNGUS DISEASE OF THE MIGRATORY LOCUST. 



Apropos to the note on page 151 of the current volume, upcm this 

 subject, we have received from M. Brongniart, of the Museum d'His- 

 toire Naturelle at Paris, a note in which he says : 



It is a pity to let erroneous ideas persist ou this siibjeot. My researches — M. Giard 

 to the contrary notwithstanding — show that the Migratory Locust {Schistocerca pere- 

 grina) offers several jiarasites. (1) Two forms of Botrytis, which kill the insects rap- 

 idly; (2) certain forms of Fasarium (=: Lachnidium acridiorum Giard) which do not 

 kill the insect; (3) the form Polyrhizium (Giard), which does not kill the insect, etc. 



M. Giard and my colleague Kiinckel have not studied the forms Botrytis, and 

 therefore conclude that they do not exist, yet Dr. Delacroix and I have clearly 

 shown these destructive forms of Botrytis to Avhomsoever would look. 



THE SALTBUSH SCALE OF AUSTRALIA. 



We noticed, ui)ou page 291 of the last number, Mr. A. Sidney Ollifif s 

 preliminary notice of a new species of Pulvinaria destroying the fodder- 

 plant known as the saltbush, in New South Wales. In No. 3, Vol. iii, 

 Agricnltural Gazette, of New South Wales, he devotes a full-page jjlate 

 to this interesting insect, which he has named Pulvinaria maskelli, and 

 gives a full account of its habits, Avith extended description of the spe- 

 cies and descriptions of two of its natural enemies, viz, Thalpoehares 

 pulvinarice and Chrysopa ramhuri Sch. 



A PROPOSED INSECTICIDE FOR TEA-BUSHES. 



Mr. G. F. Strawson, in a letter to BeWs Weekly Messenger of October 

 26, proposes the use of a combination of benzine and naphthaline in the 

 proportion of one part of the naplithalin to eight of benzine, for use 



