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English papers reports of similar abundance 01 the grass caterpillar, 
Charceas graminis, in northern Europe, especially during the past two 
years, and in The Entomologist for October, 1894, there is an interest- 
ing article by Robert Service concerning the recent abundance of this 
latter species in southern Scotland. He mentions one place where the 
drains and ditches were found in many cases to have been filled up with 
larvse after heavy rainfalls, the masses of caterpillars lying, in some 
places, from 20 to 24 inches in depth. Anglers found every trout cap- 
tured literally crammed to the mouth with these larvae. The coincidence 
of the appearance of this insect in such extraordinarj^ numbers with 
the outbreak of the vicarious army worm in the eastern part of this 
country is interesting, and indicates a similarity of weather conditions. 
THE BUTTERFLY HUNTERS IN THE CARIBBEES. 
Scribners have just published a handsome little volume under the 
above title, by Dr. Eugene Murray- Aaron, of New York. The book is 
intended for young people, and gives an interesting account of a jour- 
ney made by two boys of fourteen and sixteen, under the care of an 
experienced traveler and naturalist, to the Bahamas, Haiti, and Jamaica. 
The object of the trip was primarily to collect butterflies, but general 
collections in other groups were also made, and the author has brought 
in many interesting historical and ethnological passages concerning 
the islands and the people inhabiting them. One who expects from the 
title a strictly entomological work will be disappointed, but there are 
many interesting entomological notes, and the volume is well calcu - 
lated to hold the attention not only of the class for whom it was 
designed, but also of persons who are in any degree interested in natu- 
ral history. The person reading it, in fact, can not but become more 
interested in nature. It is the intention of the author to follow it by 
another volume describing a journey by the same individuals to Central 
America. To the entomologist the book is chiefly interesting for its 
account of the methods used by insect collectors in tropical countries, 
a subject with which Dr. Murray- Aaron is perfectly familiar from per- 
sonal experience. He has traveled over the entire ground in which the 
scenes are laid, and leaves nothing to hearsay. 
DAMAGE BY ABBOTT'S BAG-WORM. 
Mrs. Annie Trumbull Slosson, in the Journal of the New York Ento 
mological Society for September, 1894, states that at Punta Gorda, Fla., 
the baskets of OiTceticus abbottii were very numerous on various trees 
and shrubs. Orange and lemon trees were sometimes completely 
defoliated. Upon one Japanese plum they hung by hundreds, one 
small twig sometimes carrying eight or more, hanging not half an inch 
apart. Fortunately this insect is readily destroyed by an arsenical 
spray. 
