359 



A MOSQUITO EXTERMINATOR. 



The Indian Medical Record for March IG says that a Bombay news- 

 paper calls attention to the virtues of the castor-oil plant as a means 

 of protection against mosquitoes. In Egypt it is planted about houses 

 to drive the insects away. In towns a better i^lan is to have the grow- 

 ing plants in pots, and bring them into the house for a day or two 

 at a time, but they must not be kept too long in the shade, for the 

 Palma christi is a sun-loving plant. A writer is cited as saying that 

 the mosquitoes are killed by a poison that they find on the lower side 

 of the leaf, but it is stated that if a dozen leaves are i)laced about a 

 room that swarms with mosquitoes tliey will disappear without leaving 

 any dead, ones lying about. — fK. Y. Med. Journ., 1893, Ko. 10, p. 440. 



THE HORN FLY IN CANADA. 



Mr. A. F. Winn, in No. 5, Vol. v, of the Canadian Record of Science^ 

 publishes a short article on the subject of the Horn Fly, in which he 

 compiles an interesting account of the habits and life-history of the 

 species and publishes a well written letter from Mr. W. A. Oswald, of 

 Belleriviere, Quebec, concerning the first appearance of the insect in 

 his locality, which is about 20 miles from Montreal. It seems that the 

 Horn Fly was first observed about the middle of July, 1892, although 

 the probabilities are that it occurred in small numbers in that locality 

 in 1891, since we have invariably found this to be the case on our side 

 of the border. Young cattle seem to suffer more than older animals, 

 and train oil was found to keep the flies away for from five to six days. 



RECENT STUDIES UPON LACHNIDIUM ACRIDIORUM Gd. 



Upon page 151 of Volume iv we reviewed the investigations of MM. 

 Kltnckel and Langlois of the cry]3togamic disease which sometimes 

 attacks the MigTatory Locust [ScMstocerca peregrina Ol.) of Africa, giv- 

 ing the authors' conclusion that the prospect of exterminating the 

 Migratory Locust in Algeria by means of this disease was not encourag- 

 ing. The fungus in question was determined by M. A. Giard as Lach- 

 nidium acridiorum n. sp. We have received a pamphlet extracted from 

 the Revue Generale de Botanique^ Tome iv, 1892, p. 449, in which Prof. 

 Giard gives the results of his latest studies of this question. It appears 

 that the most extravagant statements have been made in the public 

 press as to the usefulness of the disease in exterminating locusts, one 

 writer declaring that the solution of the problem has been found not 

 only for locusts, but probably for all injurious insects. M. Giard de- 

 plores these unfounded statements, since his investigations, as well as 

 those of MM. Kiinckel and Langlois, show conclusively that the fungus 

 is a purely superficial and not very malignant malady; that contami- 

 nation takes place with difficulty between diseased and healthy indi- 

 viduals, even when placed in the same receptacle and uniting sexually; 



