136 



NATURE 



[June io, 1897 



INSECTS AFFECTING DOMESTIC ANIMALS} 

 'PHIS work is one of the most recent of the many valuable 

 ■*• publications on economic entomology for which we are 

 indebted to the Department of Agriculture of the United States, 

 and is a well-printed and well-illustrated volume of about 300 

 pages, giving, firstly, an enormous amount of useful information 

 on the histories and means of prevention of insects injurious to 

 wild and domesticated animals, and also to man. Following 

 on this are about sixty pages devoted to the wingless parasites, 

 classed scientifically in the sub-order Mallophaga more shortly 

 here as " biting lice "; and a further division, of about twenty- 

 five pages, gives under the heading of Arachnida some of the 

 most important representatives of the "mites, ticks, scab 

 insects, mange insects, &c." 



The value of the book is much enhanced by the excellent 

 supply given of explanatory adjuncts, including in these a very 

 full table of contents, with number of page bracketed to name 

 of each insect or parasite ; also an introduction dealing mainly 

 with points of entomological classification, distribution of the 

 pests, as to the divisions of mammals, birds, &c., affected by 

 them, and " Effects of Parasites on the Host, &c." 



The body of the book is followed by " A List of Parasites 

 according to Hosts"; several pages with titles of works more 

 especially bearing on the infestations previously entered on, 

 together with the names of their authors, and a good index 

 completes the useful volume. 



In the "letter of transmittal" of the work to the U.S. 

 Secretary of Agriculture) it is noted by Dr. L. O. Howard, 

 Entomologist to the Department, that " the Report will form an 

 excellent text-book of the subject, and is a work which in the 

 opinion of the writer should be in the hands of all stock 

 raisers." This, of course, refers primarily to stock raisers of 

 the United States ; but even on our side the Atlantic, from the 

 plainness of the descriptions, both of infestations and remedies, 

 the information will be of much practical use, and also as a 

 scientific as well as practical manual should be in the hands of 

 all our economic entomologists. 



The book may be considered as in some degree a legacy, or 

 posthumous contribution by the late Prof. Riley to the work of 

 economic entomology, which he had so much at heart, as we 

 are told in the ' ' Prefatory Note " that the report was originally 

 planned in 1885 as a conjoint work with Dr. C. V. Riley, and 

 it is matter of congratulation that the plans have fallen in their 

 completion into such very well-qualified hands as those of Prof. 

 Osborn. 



The accounts of the infestations consist, for the most part, of 

 plainly-worded descriptions of the insects (suitable for general 



use), with notes of habits, distribution, or other points of 

 interest, and measures of prevention and remedy. The figures 

 are clear and good, and that at p. 61, of " The Black Gad Fly " 

 ( Tabavus atratus), after Prof. Riley, gives a good example of 

 method of representation of the insect in all its stages (Fig. i). The 



1 " Insects affecting Domestic Animals : an Account of the Species of Im- 

 portance in North America." By Herbert Osborn, Professor of Zoology 

 and Entomology, Iowa Agricultural College, Ames, Iowa. Bulletin No. 5, 

 New Series, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Div. of Entomology. 

 (Washington : Government Printing Office, 1896.) 



NO. 1 44 1, VOL. 56] 



figure at p. 118, of a cow's horn with the base covered with the 

 clustering masses of the " horn fly" (Hamatobia serrata), gives 

 a guide to the appearance of the infestation in situ, unmistakable 

 by the most superficial observer (Fig. 2), A single extract from 



Fig. 2. — Infested cow's horn. 



the table of contents may serve as a specimen of the complete- 

 ness with which the work is given. 



" Family Simuliid^ (black flies, buffalo gnats). Losses 

 from buffalo gnats (p. 32) — Life-history and habits (p. 33) — 

 Preventives (p. 36) — Remedies for the bites (p. 37) — Natural 

 enemies of buffalo gnats (p. 38) — Descriptions of species with 

 notes on their habits (p. 38) — The Columbacz midge (p. 38) — 

 Simulium ornatum (p. 39) — The black fly (p. 40) — The 

 Southern buffalo gnat (p. 41) — The Turkey gnat (p. 52) — The 

 Western buffalo gnat (p. 55) — Simulium piscicidium (p. 56) — 

 Simulium canescens (p. 57) — Simulium riviilara (p. 57 — 

 Simulium sp., in Brazil (p. 57) — Simulium vemistum (p. 57) — 

 Simulium sp., near Washington (p. 58) — Simulium pictipei 

 (p. 58)." E. A. O. 



THE ENGWURRA, OR FIRE CEREMONY 

 OF CERTAIN CENTRAL AUSTRALIAN 

 TRIBES} 

 A MONGST certain tribes inhabiting the centre of Australia, 

 •^ the last of the initiation ceremonies through which every 

 man must pass before he is fully admitted to all the sacred 

 mysteries of the tribe, takes the form of a series of what may 

 be called ordeals by fire. Some such ceremony is known to us 

 to exist amongst the Urabunna tribe, in the neighbourhood of 

 Lake Eyre ; in the Arunta tribe, which extends across the centre 

 of the continent to about seventy miles north of the Macdonnell 

 Range ; and also in the Ilparra and Warramunga tribes, who 

 extend at least two hundred miles still further to the north. 



We cannot fully translate the term Engwurra, or Urrum- 

 puUa, by which the rite is known in certain parts, but each of 

 them is formed in part of the word urra, which means fire. 

 The Arunta natives say that the ceremony has the effect of 

 strengthening all those who pass through it. It imparts courage 

 and wisdom, makes the men more kindly-natured, and less apt 

 to quarrel ; in short, it makes them ertwa miirra oknirray 

 words which respectively mean, in the Arunta tongue, "men, 

 good, very, or great." 



Evidently the main objects of it are, firstly, to bring the 

 younger men under the control of the elders, whose commands 

 they have implicitly to obey ; secondly, to teach them habits 

 of self-restraint and hardihood ; and thirdly, to show to the 

 younger men who have arrived at mature age, the sacred secrets 

 of the tribe, especially those which are associated with the 

 totems. 



The Engwurra is the fourth of the initiatory rites through 

 which every Arunta native has to pass. Of two of the three 

 earlier ones the details have already been described by one of 

 us,2 and, stated briefly, the ceremonies are as follows. At the 

 age of about ten or twelve the boys are taken to a spot close to 

 the main camp, where the men and women assemble. Whilst 



1 The paper, of which this is an outline, was read before the Royal Society 

 of Victoria, in April, by Prof. Baldwin Spencer and F. J. Gillen, Sub-Pro- 

 tector of Aborigines, Alice Springs, South Australia. 



2 F. J. Gillen, in " Report on the Work of the Horn Exped. to Cent. 

 Aust." Part iv., "Anthropology," p. 169. Plates 16, 17, 18. 



