132 TRINIDAD. 



are two distinct species the tick and garrapato. The tick 

 is larger, of the size, colour, and appearance of the castor-oil 

 seed ; whence its zoological name Ricinus. It adheres to the 

 hide of animals, particularly to the inside of the ears, and other 

 denuded parts. The garrapato is smaller, flat, and of a brown 

 colour ; it is particularly common in underbrush, and the high 

 woods. It sticks to animals exactly like the tick, but its hold 

 is firmer, and, when efforts are made to tear it away, it breaks, 

 and its sucker, remaining fixed in the skin, causes an intolerable 

 itching for weeks and months. Ticks and garrapatos sometimes 

 collect by hundreds on the animals allowed to pasture in the 

 natural savannahs ; they particularly follow horned cattle, horses, 

 mules, and dogs. Some of these animals may be said to contract 

 at times a tick-disease, hundreds of them being found sticking 

 to the hide a few days after as many had been removed. The 

 best remedy against these insect-pests is the carapa-oil : they die 

 within one or two days after its having been applied. 



Chigoes (Pulex penetrans) are very common; however, they 

 prefer dry, dusty localities, and multiply particularly where 

 animals herd together for rest : the numbers bred in such spots 

 at certain seasons are sometimes enormous. The chigo is not only 

 troublesome on account of the itching and pain it occasions, but 

 may become, from neglect and uncleanly habits, the cause of 

 dangerous sores, particularly on the toes and soles of the feet. 



Of the coleoptera a few only will be mentioned, viz., the 

 cabbage-palm (Ourculio), called here the G-roo-groo Worm, of 

 which the larvae are much esteemed by our gourmets; and a 

 longicorn, that lays on young cacao-trees its larvae, which, by 

 devouring the inner bark, cause the plant to die. Some insects 

 of the weevil genus also occasion great damage in the corn, rice, 

 and even in the corn-meal and flour of provision stores : another 

 species of the same genus attacks books and papers, and renders 

 it an arduous task to keep them in proper order. The bamboo, 

 which is much used for fences and other purposes, is liable to the 

 ravages of coleoptera, and crumbles to dust in a short time under 

 their attacks. The fig-tree, which otherwise grows and thrives 

 well in the colony, is also attacked by another coleopterous insect 

 the larva of which is about one inch long, and very much like a 

 caterpillar : it perforates the wood, and takes its lodging in the 

 pith ; if not assiduously watched, the tree soon becomes en- 



