1899] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 293 



locked door in the ti-ain. Ooe of the o:uards heard the door open, 

 shouted just too late, but rushed up in time to drajr the man out by 

 the heels. Fortunately the gas was largely spent, but although the 

 man was a stalwart Kafir the ettects o( the short exposure were 

 such as to thoi'oughly frighten all who saw him. Now the oper.i- 

 toi-s employed at the railway are exceptionally careful workmen, in 

 fact they were selected largely because of habitual pmidence. and 

 this near approach to an accident simply illustrates how with what 

 appears all necessary precautions there is a grave element of risk in 

 such operatious. The doors to the carriages are ordinarily locked 

 the key hole* plugged, but at the last moment something was found 

 to be detective with the lock of the door in question, and the watch- 

 men chanced to be facing another way as the bare footed native 

 came up. Might not an analagous circumstance occasionally hap- 

 pen in mills and houses, where at the best the risks are imujensely 

 greater? It is not as if there were no alternative measures ai)plic- 

 able for granary and house insects and to me it seems a plain case 

 of prudence dictating to let well enough alone. Hydrocyanic acid 

 gas for orchard fumigation and for the disiuleciion of nursery stock 

 in specially devised buildings is right enough, as it is also under 

 proper precautions for the treatment of railway cairiages that must 

 be put into use again within a few hours, but to encoui*age its gen- 

 eral use in closed buildings seems going to far. If to be used at all 

 in dwellings, granaries and the like I think that all ot the opera- 

 tions should be under the personal superintendence of a responsible 

 party licensed by law. We have had no accident in the colony in 

 three years' work with the gas in special chambers and in the or- 

 chard, but when disinfec,ting a lew rooms at a boarding school one 

 of the orchard operatoi-s gave himself and sevei-al others violent 

 headache and nausea- One after another he told me he had to give 

 upand go lay down. The bad effects were all the result of ill-con- 

 sidered procedure, but if an experienced fumigator makes mistakes 

 in judgment what might not be expected from an ignoront be- 

 ginner ? Chas. p. Lounsbuhy. 

 Cape Toirti, South Africa. October 10, 1899. 

 o 



Note on Tel ea polyphem us- Cy; etc —^\ncQ\i appears that T. 

 polyphemus- Cv. has not been reported from Mexico I wish to put 

 on record here the capture of a ej^ by Prof. Luis Murillo at Jalapa, 

 V. C. this month (April). Eacles impen'aUs — Drury has come to 

 stay though still very rare in ruernavaca, Mor ,and in Jalapa, V. C. 

 And Acfias luna—L. is aretting settled at Jalapa and (?) Orizaba, 

 V. C. Although the last two moths are reported in the Biologia^ 

 C. A., Prof. Murillo declares they have been in evidence in Jalapa 

 for only two or three years. The city is almost entirely shutout 

 from the north and at an elevation of 5,000 feet. 



O. W, Barrett, Museo, Tacubaya,D. F., Mexico. 



