CURRENT NOTES. 227 



A Locustid injurious to Man. 



Dr. C. A. Wiggins, Acting Principal Medical Officer for Uganda, lias 

 forwarded from Entebbe examples of a large wingless Locustid, EnyaJiopsis 

 durandi, Luc, concerning Avhich he says: "The bite of this insect gives 

 rise to a ver}^ nasty eruption, which ma}^ extend over the whole body, with 

 high temperature and general malaise. The skin at the site of the bite 



Enyaliopsis durandi, Luc. ; natural size. 



sloughs away and generally leaves a large deep cavity, which heals very 

 slowly." It is difficult to understand the reason for these symptoms, as 

 the insect possesses no poison glands. The writer has often seen immature 

 specimens of the allied E. 'petersi, Schaum, emit a clear yellow flnid from the 

 sides of the body when handled ; but the fluid was never observed to have 

 any deleterious properties. A number of allied species occur throughout 

 Tropical Africa. 



Copper Sulphate and Mosquito Larvae. 



With reference to the possibility of eliminating mosquito larvae by 

 destroying the algse upon which they feed, a reviewer in the ' Lancet ' 

 (29th July, 1910) makes the following comments : — " In connection with 

 this subject we may mention the influence of copper upon the growth of 

 algae. In the 'Lancet^ of October 28th, 1905, p. 1269, we reported some 

 experiments in which it was shown that the addition not only of minute 

 quantities of copi)er salts, but the presence of the clean metal also, rendered 

 the water free from algae, as well as odourless, colourless and fit for con- 

 sumption ; and it was further reported that micro-organisms were destroyed. 



