26 BULLETIN 1409, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
A very common and widely distributed insect is a basket worm, 
bicho de cesto (Oeketicus platensis Berg). This insect covers itself 
with a gray silk cocoon, suspended from a twig. These cocoons 
may be seen hanging as thick as leaves on hedges, bushes, fruit, and 
other trees. The caterpillars strip the trees and bushes of their leaves 
within a few hours or days. 
The tarantula is also found. This is a large velvety black or brick- 
red spider with long, vicious-looking fangs. It is sometimes nearly 
as large as a man's hand, can run and leap, and is said to be very 
poisonous. 
Flies of many kinds are numerous and annoying. These include 
the common house fly and several species that torment livestock. 
Horses, milk cows, and goats are kept in the cities and towns, and in 
the country large numbers of livestock are kept near the dwellings, 
and the flies breed in the manure. Little effort is made to hold the 
pest in check or to screen dwellings and food against them. Mosqui- 
toes breed in the numerous lagoons and marshes and make protection 
a necessity, especially at night. South of Kosario the mosquitoes are 
said not to carry malaria, but in many sections to the north malaria 
is a serious malady. In the northern third of Argentina a consid- 
erable portion of the population is affected with malaria and the 
hookworm disease. 
The .cattle tick or garrapata is another serious pest, especially in 
the semitropical region of the north, where it is difficult for imported 
purebred animals to survive infection. 
One of the largest branches of the Argentine Department of Agri- 
culture, the Division de Defensa Agricola, is organized to carry on 
systematic campaigns against the numerous insect pests and diseases 
with which the farmers and livestock men have to contend. National 
and Provincial laws require producers to participate actively in these 
campaigns and to follow the instructions of Federal officials and to 
cooperate with them in their efforts to exterminate these pests. 
POPULATION * 
In 1535 Pedro de Mendoza arrived at the mouth of La Plata River 
with a large party and founded Santisima Trinidad in the port of 
Santa Maria de Buenos Aires, but this post had to be abandoned 
because of the hostility of the Guarani Indians and lack of food. 
'However, a part of Mendoza's force ascended the Parana River and 
founded La Ascuncion, capital of Paraguay, in 1537. In 1573 Juan 
de Garay brought another expedition from Spain and founded the 
city of Santa Fe. In 1580 Garay refounded Buenos Aires. 
It is not known what the Indian population of Argentina was at 
the time of its discovery. The Spanish conquistadores were few in 
number, did not bring families with them, and mixed freely with the 
7 Data relating to the population of Argentina was in part furnished by the Direction de Economia Rural 
y Estadistica de Ministerio de Agricultura de Republica Argentina and in part was compiled from the 
following publications: 
Argentine Republic. Tercer censo nacional levantado el 1. de junio de 1914. Ordenado por la ley no. 
9108. Comision nacional . . . tomo IV, Poblacion. Buenos Aires, Talleres graficos de la L. J. Rosso y 
cia, 1916. 
Martinez, A. B., and Lewandowski, Maurice. The Argentine in the twentieth century . . . Trans- 
lated by Bernard Miall from the French of the 3. ed., rev., and brought up to date. London, Leipsic, 
T. Fisher Unwin, 1911. 
Napp, Ricardo. La Republica Argentina obra escrita en aleman . . . con la ayuda de varios colabora- 
dores y por encargo del Comite central argentino para la Exposition on Filadelfia. Buenos Aires, Impreso 
por la sociedad anonima, 1876. 
