THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 25 



is also dark brown, and it is enclosed in an oval cocoon, 

 strengthened and protected by the probably poisonous 

 hairs of the caterpillar interwoven with the silk. W.-M. 



Amoeba. Sheep in certain country districts of New 

 South Wales are liable to a disease somewhat resembling 

 epithelial cancer. It is produced by an amoeba, which 

 affects the hoofs, lips, and nostrils of sheep and lambs. 

 The epithelium grows with great rapidity, the wool drops 

 off* in the parts attacked, and a festering sore is estab- 

 lished. In studying the surroundings of the flocks so 

 affected, and by a process of artificial breeding in an 

 aquarium, Dr. Lendenfeld found that the disease is due 

 to an amoeba (A. parasitica) which enters into wounds 

 made by the spines of the variegated thistle. This plant 

 grows in profusion about the feeding grounds. The 

 amoeba, having gained an entrance through a wound, 

 multiplies very rapidly between the epithelial and horny 

 layers of the hoof. This disease appears very closely to 

 resemble the fungus-foot disease among the natives of the 

 Madura district of India. The amoeba reproduces itself 

 by simple division. Dr. Lendenfeld in Pro. Linn. Soc., 

 New South Wales. 



Amphistoma conicum, ' cone - shaped fluke.' Very 

 common in the ox, sheep, musk ox, elk, fallow and red 

 deer, goat, etc. Moisture being essential to the develop- 

 ment of the fluke-larva3, sheep cannot be infested so long 

 as they remain on high and dry grounds. 



Amphistoma hominis is a parasite afflicting the natives 

 of Assam. It belongs to the trematode or fluke order of 

 helminths. See Distoma. 



Ancylonycha is a genus of the Orthoptera ; some species 

 attack the coffee plants of Ceylon. See Lachnosterna. 



Anobium. One species of this genus of beetles is known 



