218 MOSQUITOES 



try there are two — one with brown nuts, and the other white in 

 color, with a kernel tasting like the fresh almond, 



E. H. Plumacher, Consul. 



Maracaibo, November 30, 1900. 



(Copied from Consular Reports, No. 24G, March, 1901.) 



Persons familiar with this phant, and wdio have had it 

 g-rowino' in their gardens, tell me that altliough they have 

 heard the idea advanced before, they are convinced that 

 tliere is nothing in it, and that the growth of this plant 

 does not drive a^vay mosquitoes. 



Remedies for the Bites. 



As elsewhere pointed out, different persons differ 

 greatly in the effects which the mosquito -poison produces. 

 Some persons are scarcely troubled by the puncture, 

 while others are quite severely poisoned. It has been my 

 own experience that if I can only refrain from scratching 

 after having been bitten, no swelling results, and the irri- 

 tation soon disappears. Even a small degree of scratch- 

 ing, how^ever, such as the rubbing of one's cuff, or coat- 

 sleeve, or collar, increases the irritation and produces 

 a swelling, and sometimes white spots. Household am- 

 monia has been found by manj^ persons to give relief, and 

 others say that a single touch of alcohol stops the irrita- 

 tion. Dr. E. O. Peck, of Morristow-n, N. J., has ^vritten 

 me that he has found glycerine a sovereign cure for the 

 bites. Touch the bite wdth glycerine and in a few minutes 

 the pain is gone. He says also that glycerine takes the 

 pain from bee-stings. Dr. Charles A. Nash, of New York 



