265 



Banassa calca. You are right in supposing that Hubbard lias already reported No. 

 3 as an orange insect, and the species which he figures upon page 160 is in all proba- 

 bility the same as your Nos. 2 and 4. It damages the orange crop occasionally, and 

 also injures cotton bolls. No. 1 is not exclusively a plant-feeder, as it has been fre- 

 quently found preying upon Lepidopterous larvie, and is mentioned in the Fourth 

 Report of the U, S. Entomological Commission as an enemy to the Cotton Worm. — 

 [December 17, 1892.] 



- Fowls killed by Mole-crickets. 



While residing in St. Vincent, one of the Windward Islands, I frequently heard of 

 the destruction of domestic fowls by mole-crickets. The cricket is common about 

 sugar plantations, where it burrows among the cane-roots, or conceals itself under 

 stones and sticks. Where cane-patches adjoin plantation-houses, as is frequently 

 the case, the fowls wander among them all day, no doubt delighting in the shade 

 and concealment and finding plenty of insect food. They do not often discover the 

 mole-crickets, because the latter keep well beneath the surface ; but when they do 

 find them, they swallow them eagerly. In doing so, they frequently bring about 

 their own destruction; for the crickets finding the bird's crop uncongenial, at once 

 proceed to burrow out; the insect escapes and the fowl dies. 



One intelligent planter told me that he had given up fowl raising, because so many 

 were lost in this way; others assured me of the truth of the story, and I have no 

 reason to doubt it. I frequently requested these gentlemen to send me fowls which 

 had been killed by the crickets, but was never able to obtain one. It would be in- 

 teresting to know whether the insect burrows through the crop itself or through the 

 sides of the gullet. — [Herbert H. Smith, New York, December 1892. 



_ Roaches in Brazil. 



Cockroaches are so common in Brazilian country-houses that nobody pays much 

 attention to them. They have an unpleasant way of getting into provision-boxes, 

 and they deface books, shoes, and sometimes clothing. Where wall paper is used 

 they soon eat it off in unsightly patches, no doubt seeking the paste beneath. But 

 at Corumba, on the upper Paraguay, I came across the cockroach in a new role. In 

 the house where we staying there were nearly a dozen children, and every one of 

 them had their eyelashes more or less eaten off by cockroaches — a large brown spe- 

 cies, one of the commonest kind throughout Brazil. The eyelashes were bitten off 

 irregularly, in some places quite close to the lid. Like most Brazilians, these chil- 

 dren had very long, black eyelashes, and their appearance thus defaced was odd 

 enough. The trouble was confined to children, I suppose, because they are heavy 

 slegpers and do not disturb the insects at work. My wife and I sometimes brushed 

 cockroaches from our faces at night, but thought nothing more of the matter. The 

 roaches also bite off bits of the toe-nails. Brazilians very properly encourage the 

 large house-spiders because they tend to rid the house of other insect pests. — [Her- 

 bert H. Smith, New York, December, 1892. 



Screw Worms and the man-infesting Bot in Brazil. 



I was once called upon to attend a little Brazilian boy, whose nose, with the sin- 

 uses and apparently the upper part of the pharynx, were literally alive with large 

 maggots. He could only breathe through the mouth and was in great pain. The 

 maggots were introduced by a blow-fly (probably one of the common green flesh- 

 flies) through the nostrils, while the boy was asleep. 



Luckily, I had a piece of rubber tubing, with which I arranged a nasal douche ; 

 dilute carbolic acid was repeatedly passed through the nose, the maggots dropping 

 out in great masses; in the end all were removed, and the boy speedily recovered. 



