1894] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. II3 



VISITORS FROM SOUTH AMERICA. 



The Many-footed Hosts that are brought here as Stowaways. 



Throughout the year, but particularly at this season, when the 

 city is dependent upon the tropics for its fruit supply, almost 

 every steamer entering New York brings a number of manj'-footed 

 stowaways. The steamers which bring the most of these stowa- 

 ways are those that come from the West Indies and Central 

 America, loaded with bananas, and a naturalist will always be 

 rewarded by a visit to any of the piers where these vessels unload. 

 As bunch after bunch of bananas is handed out from the hold to 

 be packed away in large open vans, a lizard often drops out and 

 can be easily captured. These are of every color, many of them 

 beautiful, and all perfectly harmless. Sometimes a small tropical 

 moth flutters out, and a careful observer will find many sorts of 

 ants, from great black fellows that have a savage bite to the 

 tiniest of the species. 



Very unwelcome visitors are centipedes and scorpions, that 

 frequently find shelter in the large green bunches, and many of 

 the men who handle the fruit have been stung by those noxious 

 insects. The sting of the scorpion seems instantly to paralize 

 the limb struck, and causes most acute pain and much swelling. 

 The centipede, whose every leg is armed with a sting that leaves 

 its poison behind as it hurries over the human skin, leaves a trail 

 of pain behind it which is quite acute as that caused by the scor- 

 pion. The best remedy for these stings is strong spirits of 

 ammonia, which should be at once rubbed into the skin vigorously. 



Now and then a small snake makes his appearance from among 

 the fruit, and always causes a panic among the people near by. 

 These are always of the tree variety, and are generally harm- 

 less, but they receive no favor and are soon battered into a jelly. 

 Spiders are among the most common of these tropical immigrants, 

 and among these the hairy-legged tarantula is, very rightly, the 

 most dreaded. One that was captured recently covered nearly 

 as much ground as a man's hand. The ugly customer lived for 

 several weeks in confinement. It was fed on raw meat; but was 

 particularly fond of cockroaches. The other spiders that come 

 on the fruit ships are harmless, and almost all of them are beauti- 

 fully marked, and are prized by naturalists. 



