155 



The house-fly is, iu Chili, the same common and aunoyiug compauion of 

 mau as elsewhere, and the question whether or not it existed before the 

 arrival of the Europeans will never be answered. IStomoxys calcitrans 

 is rather scarce in Chili, and Dr. Phiiippi observed it first twenty years 

 ago ; it is not mentioned in Gay's work. 



With the introduction of domestic animals some of their insect para- 

 sites have also come to Chili. The sheep-tick (Melophagus ovimis) was 

 j introduced at a very early period, but the sheep gad-fly {GEstrus ovis) 

 exists in Chili only since about twenty-five years. (Estriis hovis, occa- 

 sioDally introduced in breeding cattle, has hitherto not taken a firm 

 hold on Chilian soil. (Estrus equi and Ripposhoca equina have never 

 been found in the country nor has Chili any native species of that 

 family. The chicken and pigeon have also added their parasitic Acari 

 (Acarus gallince and Argas reflexus) to the Chilian fauna. 



The Eed Spider [Tetranychus teJarius) has become extremely numer- 

 ^ous and injurious in Chili, but it is interesting to note that in the south- 

 ern provinces, e. g., Yaldivia, where rains are frequent and abundant, 

 this pest has never been found. Whether the Itch Mite {Acarus scabiei), 

 which is especially common on the island of Chiloe, is to be considered 

 as an endemic insect or as an importation by the Spaniards can never 

 be satisfactorily decided. 



We mentioned above that Flusia gamma and Blatta germanica are 

 considered by Dr. Phiiippi as endemic forms, and to those must be added 

 Ophion liiteus and Acridium tesselatum, which according to Prof. Carlos 

 Berg is different from A. migratorium, a question which is, however, still 

 an open one. Howev^er that may be, any grasshopper damage in Chili 

 is never done by A. tesselatum, but by the much smaller (Edipoda cineras- 

 cens. But since more than forty years there was never any damage worth 

 mentioning done by grasshoppers, whereas still at the beginning of this 

 centur^^ such invasions took place several times in the vicinity of San- 

 tiago. But since that time the enormous increase of the cultivated area, 

 in consequence ot* the construction of numerous irrigation canals, has 

 forever prevented an undue multiplication of the grasshopper. 



REMARKABLE ABUNDANCE OF THE CECROPIA SILK-WORM. 



Miss Clara E. Brown, of Calaway, Custer County, Nebr., writes to the 

 Commissioner of Agriculture, under date of October 5, sending speci- 

 mens of the Cecropia cocoon, and stating that the worms commit great 

 havoc among the timber claims of that section, and that the cocoons 

 are to be found in vast numbers this fall fastened to the limbs of the 

 trees. She also found them fastened to a bush which they call the 

 ^' Shoe-string" {Amorpha canescens) in that country. Her object in send- 

 ing was to see whether they could be made of any commercial value, 

 but, as is well known, the difficulty in reeling the silk prevents this. 



