1896.] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 87 



coccid genns Adelges Vallot. On the grounds of the Massachusetts Ag- 

 ricultural College it has become quite abundant doing serious damage. 

 We are making studies on this insect and hope to be able to publish a 

 complete account of it before long. There seems to be some doubt 

 whether we have more than one species in this country. Some specimens 

 do not agree with Thomas' Adelges abietico/ens, which he described from 

 Illinois. If the insect occurs in your locality, will you kindly send me 

 some of the gall infested twigs? At this season of the year only dead 

 galls can be found, and they are dry and shrunken, with numerous open 

 cells. Even these dry galls wills prove useful. — C. H. Fernald, Am- 

 herst, Mass. 



A Curious Aberration of Melitcea phcrtoji. — Expands 54 mm.; 

 colors as in phtzton, but markings arranged as follows: 



Primaries: red spots normal; the two outer rows of white fused to- 

 gether into a band which is cut by the veins into a row of dashes; the 

 two inner rows similar, but faint and extending from the costa about one- 

 third across the wing. Secondaries: red spots heavy, a reddish dash 

 along costa; white represented by a single faint spot near the anal angle. 

 Underside, primaries: all the white fused into a broad band, well defined 

 and serrate on the outer edge; clouded on the inner edge; red spots 

 normal. Secondaries: red spots heavy, those near the base oi wing form 

 a large blotch with no white intermingled; the white forms a clouded 

 band with a blackish spot between each black vein and not reaching costal 

 margin. One specimen taken in Webster, N. H., June 12, 1895, in a bog 

 vi\\&x^ phcston had never been observed before, and where most diligent 

 search failed to discover more. — VV. F. Fiske, Mast Yard, N. H. 



About the Chigoe. — To the Pulicidae belongs also a native of the 

 West Indies and South America, the Pulex penetrans, variously named 

 in the countries where it is found, Chigoe, Jigger, Nigua, Tungua and 

 Pique. According to Stedman this " is a kind of a small sand flea, which 

 gets in between the skin and the flesh without being felt, and generally 

 under the nails of the toes, where, while it feeds, it keeps growing, till it 

 becomes of the size of a pea, causing no further pain than a disagreeable 

 itching. In process of time its operation appears in the form of a small 

 bladder, in which are deposited thoHsaiids of eggs, or nit«!, and which, if 

 it breaks, produce so many young Chigoes, which, in coiirse of time, 

 create running ulcers, often of very dangerous consequence to the patient; 

 so much so, indeed, that I know a soldier the soles of whose feet were 

 obliged to be cut away before he could recover; and some men have lost 

 their limbs by amputation — nay, even their lives — by having neglected in 

 time to root out these abominable vermin. The moment, therefore, that 

 a redness and itching more than usual are perceived, it is time to extract 

 the Chigoe that occasions them. This is done with a sharp-pointed 

 needle, taking care not to occasion unnecessary pain, and to prevent the 

 Chigoe from breaking in the wound. Tobacco ashes are put into the 

 orifice, by which in a little time the sore is perfectly healed." The female 



