470 



SCIENCE, 



[N. S. Vol. XXIV. No. 615. 



time. It was not until the summer of 1905, 

 however, that their spread became conspicuous. 

 The snails are active in the early morning 

 while the trees are moist from the dew of the 

 previous night. During the afternoon they 

 gather in sheltered parts of the tree, or under 

 pieces of sacks placed in the tree for the pur- 

 pose, and are easily transferred in this way 

 from grove to grove. Snails thus introduced 

 into the Harrison grove at Palmetto in March 

 increased in numbers rapidly and thoroughly 

 cleaned the tree on which they were placed 

 by mid-summer. 



Considering the fondness of the snails for 

 the injurious saprophytic fungus Meliola, it 

 becomes of first importance to inquire into 

 their treatment of the beneficial parasitic 

 fungi. Among the fungi parasitic on orange 

 insects five species in particular are of in- 

 estimable benefit to the orange grower. 

 These are : the ' brown fungus ' ; the red- 

 pink fungus, Aschersonia aleyrodis Webber; 

 a bright red fungus, Sphoerostilhe cocopMla 

 Tul. ; the ' gray-headed ' fungus, Opheonec- 

 tria cocicola and the ' black fungus.' The 

 first two fungi named are confined to the 

 white fiy larvae; the remaining three are para- 

 sitic on the common bark scales of the orange. 

 The brown fungus in its mature stages throws 

 out silvery white hyphse over the surface of 

 the leaf, and these intertwining with thbse of 

 the neighboring pustules not infrequently en- 

 tirely cover the lower surface of the leaf. 

 The snails occasionally feed to a limited extent 

 on these spreading hyphse, but not so far as ob- 

 served on the hyphse of the pustule. Consider- 

 ing the very limited extent to which the snails 

 feed on the hyphse, it seems probable the spread 

 of the fungus will not be interfered with by 

 the snails. The brown fungus is, as a matter of 

 fact, very prevalent on the trees visited by the 

 snails. The red-pink fungus throws out short 

 hyphse only; the snails, so far as observed, in 

 no way interfere with this fungus. The red 

 fungus, Sphoerostilhe, is also apparently un- 

 touched, as it is found growing abundantly 

 on the orange trees along with the snails. No 

 opportunity has yet occurred to observe the 

 behavior of the snails towards the gray fungus. 



The black fungus,^ however, is found abun- 

 dantly along with the snails and is apparently 

 untouched by them. 



White fly infestation has been severe in the 

 Manatee region for not less than fifteen years, 

 and for an equal or greater time throughout 

 much of the region given by Pilsbry as within 

 the range of Bulimulus Dormani. That the 

 snails should be found in orange groves in the 

 Manatee region alone and should have oc- 

 curred there in sufiicient numbers to attract 

 attention or to clean foliage and fruit only 

 within the past three years is suggestive of 

 possible change in food habits of the Manatee 

 River variety of the species, or of an unex- 

 plained temporary or permanent reduction of 

 its natural enemies in that locality. During 

 the past winter the snails have been given such 

 protection as they seemed to require, and have 

 been generally distributed throughout some of 

 the large groves in order to further test their 

 usefulness in cleaning up the ' sooty mold ' 

 fungus. E. H. Sellakds. 



University of Florida. 



QUOTATIONS. 



A NATIONAL DEPARTMENT OP HEALTH. 



The government is designed for the welfare 

 of the people, and in a government like ours, 

 of the whole people, one of the first considera- 

 tions in the people's welfare is their health; 

 material resources are secondary. Without an 

 able-bodied race, no country can prosper, and 

 it is the favoring health conditions of the 

 temperate zones that have made the races in- 

 habiting them the rulers of the world. With 

 the artificial conditions of civilization, how- 

 ever, the problem of the public health comes 

 more and more to the front, and the old laissez 

 faire methods show their deficiencies. More 

 than one country at the present time is seeking 

 methods and means to check the degenerative 

 tendencies that threaten them, and the ques- 

 tion whether our civilization is to last seems 

 largely to depend on the success of these 

 efforts. 



^ Recently identified as Myriangium sp., F. S. 

 Earle, Ann. Rep. Office of Experiment Stations, 

 1903, pp. 457-8. 



