WINTER NUMBER 45 
Dr. W. A. Orton, member of the Federal Horticultural Board, 
Washington, D. C., will make a trip to Florida in January for the 
purpose of inspecting the various lines of work conducted under 
the auspices of the Federal Horticultural Board. Dr. Orton will 
pay special attention to the port quarantine work being carried 
on by the State Plant Board in collaboration with the Federal 
Horticultural Board. 
Dr. Newell, Dr. Montgomery, Messrs. O’Byrne and Warner 
were in attendance at the hearing in Washington, D. C., before 
the Horticultural Board on December 20th, to consider the im- 
position of a quarantine or regulative measures intended to pre- 
vent the introduction of the Black-Fly into this country and 
particularly Florida. The Board will announce its decision in 
sanuary. It is confidently expected that proper safeguards will 
be provided. 
In December, Mr. L. R. Warner, Assistant Quarantine In- 
spector for the Plant Board at Key West, Fla., visited Cuba and 
the Bahamas collecting information on the Black-Fly. 
Mr. George B. Merrill, Assistant Entomologist of the State 
Plant Board, Gainesville, Fla., has been advanced from the grade 
of Associate Member to that of Active Member in the American 
Association of Economic Entomologists. The honor was con- 
ferred upon Mr. Merrill in recognition of his work. 
THE HABIT OF HORSE FLIES CHASING AUTOMOBILES 
In the Review of Applied Entomology, VIII-B-6, p. 110, occurs 
a review of “A Contribution to Knowledge of the Tabanidae of 
Palestine’, by Maj. E. E. Austin, in which occurs this statement ; 
“Attention is directed to the pursuit of a fast traveling motor 
car by two species. This habit does not seem to have been pre- 
viously recorded, though in Africa the attraction for Glossina 
of moving vehicles or animals has been noticed on more than 
one occasion.” The phenomenon of Tabanids pursuing auto- 
mobiles is often noticed here in Florida. Doubtless it is a man- 
ifestation of the primitive instinct of the chase common to those 
predaceous animals that pursue their prey. The Business Man- 
ager also states that, some years ago, he captured at one time, 
several dozen Tabanids trapt back of an open door at the rear 
of a coach, on a north-bound Florida East Coast Railway train 
that he boarded at Titusville, Fla. Had these flies mistaken 
the railway train for a big animal? 
