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A NEW ENEMY TO FIGS IN MEXICO. 



Dr. Edward Palmer, when visiting Parras, in the State of Coahuila, 

 Mexico, in the midsummer of 1898, was surprised to notice the 

 destruction of the fig crop by an insect he had not known before to 

 be injurious to that fruit. He saw in the different gardens trees 

 loaded with figs in the various stages of ripening. Under the trees 

 were many which had fallen, and which were dry and hard. Little 

 plant bugs were noticed attacking the fruit as soon as it began to be 

 soft and sweet. They inserted their beaks and sucked until all of the 

 sweet moisture was extracted. The trees were covered with fruit in 

 all stages of destruction, and the dried fruit on the ground showed 

 the end of the whole crop. 



The fig was of the blue-black kind, a very prolific bearer, and quite 

 sweet. There were no figs in the market, and the crop in that vicinity 

 was practically destroyed. 



Dr. Palmer brought home specimens of the insect, but all were, 

 unfortunately, immature. Mr. O. Heidemann examined them and 

 found that they belonged to a species of Pyrrhocoridse, coming nearest 

 to Stenom,acra marginella H. S. 



ON THE FOOD HABITS OF THE PAPABOTTE. 



Mr. G. H. Ellwanger, Rochester, N. Y., writes us under date of 

 November 25 concerning food habits of the papabotte, which is Creole 

 French for Bartram's sandpiper, a bird somewhat more commonly 

 known as the field, grass, or upland plover, which frequents our pas- 

 tures and feeds on grasshoppers, crickets, and other insects. Accord- 

 ing to our correspondent, this bird appears in Louisiana and Texas in 

 large numbers about the middle of Juty, remaining until the latter 

 part of September. Simultaneously with the advent of a species of 

 "Spanish fly," which also appears in great numbers, and which eats 

 ravenously of various growing things. The papabotte feeds upon 

 this insect and becomes very fat, acquiring a peculiar and very high 

 flavor. But the flesh of the bird as a result of this diet is said to be 

 sometimes poisonous, and also to be highly aphrodisiacal in its effects. 

 A steward of one of the New Orleans clubs is quoted as stating that 

 he found twenty-six of these Spanish flies in the stomach of a dozen 

 birds examined. 



As there are upward of a score of common species of Meloidse, or 

 Spanish flies, better known as blister beetles in portions of Texas, and 

 nearly all of these become periodically very numerous and destructive, 

 it is impossible to specif} r the insect or insects preferred as a food by 

 this bird. 



