Miscellaneous. eb us 
days from the time the fly laid the eggs until a new generation of 
flies is produced from them. 
You may think I have dwelt too long on these cases; but if you 
had to stand at the bed and had seen the suffering and despair of the 
patients and found that the worms were eating them up, you would 
not think so. 
All these cases occurred in the month of September. 
Upon this communication Dr. C. Y. Riley says that the insect here 
referred to as attacking the human subject in Illinois, “ is the Lucilia 
macellaria of Fabricius, the injuries of which to different animals are 
well known in the south and west, where the larva is called the 
‘screw-worm, I have repeatedly endeavoured to obtain the true 
parent of this worm. Dr. Humbert’s communication is most interest- 
ing, but the specimens yet more so, as the flies he forwards are the first 
that have positively been bred from the larve known as ‘ screw- 
worms, and they confirm the above determination of the species, 
The larvee agree with others which I have from Texas, taken from 
the root of the ear of a hog which had been bitten by a dog.”— 
Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. Sept. 1883, p. 103. 
Fish Mortality in the Gulf of Mecico. 
By S. T. WaLker*. 
Knowing your interest in every thing connected with fish &c., I 
take the liberty of giving you all the facts I have been able to col- 
lect in reference to the late mortality among the fishes in Tampa 
Bay and adjoining coasts. Had I known before I began my cruise 
of the extent of this mortality and splendid opportunities afforded 
of collecting specimens of strange and perhaps unknown species, I 
might have gone better prepared for collecting specimens; but I 
had only heard a few vague rumours, and I was little prepared 
for any thing further than a collection of facts in regard to the 
matter. 
On leaving Clear Water, November 20, I sailed south through 
Boca Ceiga Bay, and encountered the first dead fish floating on the 
water near Bird Key, a little south-east of Pass A’Trilla. These 
were mullet, and as we progressed to the south and east I began to 
encounter toad-fish, eels, puff-fish, and cow-fish, in immense num- 
bers, and, on attempting to land on the extreme point of Point 
Pinellas for the night, I was driven to my boat by the stench of 
thousands of rotting fish upon the beach. The next morning I 
went ashore and found the dead fish drifted ashore in countless 
numbers. The eels appeared most numerous, followed by puff-fish, 
cow-fish, sailor’s choice, and small fish of every shape and variety. 
After these followed groupers, mangrove snappers, jew-fish, gar- 
pike, spade-fish, sting-rays, and sharks. Other varieties, unknown 
to me, were mixed among these, together with vast numbers of cat- 
fish. I saw very few mullet here. 
* Letter to Prof. S, F. Baird, 
