283. 



occurrence which Prof. Townseiid reports, that it was entirely acciden- 

 tal and abuormal. We have observed a common species of this genus 

 in recently built cottages in the Catskill Mountains upon and behind 

 straw mattings used as dados, and have noticed that it had gnawed 

 the straw to some little extent. This habit, however, was certainly 

 accidental, and we imagine the same to be probably the case in New 

 Mexico. 



LOCUSTS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



The scourge of locusts still continues in South Africa. The Agricul- 

 tural Journal of the Cape Colony, published December 1, 1892, contains 

 a tabular statement indicating the exact condition of affairs in the 

 seventy-six divisions of the colony, from which it appears that the west- 

 ern, north-western, southern, and midland provinces have generally 

 escaj)ed, while the south-eastern, eastern, and north-eastern provinces, 

 Griqualand and the Transkei, are more or less afflicted. The natives 

 have been occupied in destroying large swarms in these districts, and 

 the divisional councils have in most cases made small appropriations 

 which have been supplemented by the government of the colony on the 

 £ for £ principle. The destructive work is purely mechanical, and is 

 done with brush. Although it is generally conceded that the injurious 

 species is migratory, no attempt seems to have been made to define 

 the permanent breeding grounds. The present incursion has lasted 

 three seasons. 



NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES OF HIPPISCUS. 



Mr. S. H. Scudder has just completed a careful monograi^h of the 

 North American species of this genus of locusts, which comprise some 

 of our more injurious species. The paper has been published in parts 

 in Psyche, running from June to December of the past year. The 

 author has studied more than five hundred specimens, which he finds 

 to represent thirty-eight species grouped under the sub-genera Hip- 

 piscus, Sticthippus, and Xanthippus. This is a difficult group of in- 

 sects to separate, and Mr. Scudder has done a real service to working 

 entomologists. 



AN EXTREME CASE OF NORWAY ITCH. 



The manifestations of the skin disease produced by Sarcoi^es scaUei 

 DeU., when especially severe, have been called by the medical pro- 

 fession Scabies norvegicum largely from the fact that the first case 

 investigated by Hebra of Vienna occurred upon a Norwegian. An in- 

 teresting case of this kind, occurring in this country, has just been 

 described by Dr. Eobert Hessler, of Indianapolis, in a paper read before 

 the Indiana Academy of Science at its December meeting. The patient, 

 a middle-aged white man, partly paralyzed, was admitted to the In- 

 dianapolis City Hospital, when it was found that his entire body was 



