35 
it could be tried on satisfactorily because the most of them would do their best to 
fight the flies ofl'. Only once did I see a fly foiled by the grease. It alighted on a 
very greasy place and moved twice, trying to insert its proboscis, and then let go and 
fell toward the ground. It was so dark that I could not tell whether it was smoth- 
ered by the oil or whether it flew away. 
The oil that I used may not be the best. I had been using it for horn flies, and it 
only affords protection about one day. I tried it for gadflies on three evenings. 
There are a great many species of gadflies here ; more than I ever saw elsewhere. 
But none are abundant except tectum, and no others are nocturnal in their habits, or 
perhaps I should say crepuscular, as tectns remains only while twilight lasts. — [G. M. 
Dodge, Missouri, July 26, 1893. 
Reply. — * * * I am surprised about the nonsuccess of the flsh oil, the more so 
as you state that it will only keep the flies off for one day. A recently published 
bulletin of the Louisiana Experiment Station states that the fish-oil emulsion will 
protect stock for four or five days. It may be that your oil was not good, or perhaps 
that emulsifying it increases its effect. I should think that it would make it more 
lasting.— [July 31, 1893. 
Termites Swarming in Houses. 
* * * An insect resembling an ant appears to have taken up its permanent home 
with me. They come out only in the spring, remain for a period of two or three 
weeks and then disappear to he seen no more until the following year. So for ten 
years, their habitation appears to be near the kitchen range around which they 
first appear ; as time passes they leave that locality and strive to leave by the west 
window — some ten feet away. They are in such considerable quantities as to become 
a pest at times. A cupful at a time nearly, has been found. — [Edwin M. Truall, 
Washington, D. C, June 3, 1893. 
Reply. — The insects which are swarming in your house, although so closely resem- 
bling true ants, are representatives of a different order and are closely related to the 
remarkable white ants or " termites" of Africa. The insect is known scientifically 
as Termes flavipes and the early stages are passed in dead and usually more or less 
decayed wood. It is found in stumps and old logs and inhabits the timbers of many 
houses and other buildings in this city which have been erected for some years. The 
larva? burrow in the timbers but fortunately take a longitudinal direction and never 
sever the main fibres, so that the timber may be pretty well riddled by them and 
still retain a great proportion of its sustaining strength. In the course of years, 
however, it must become considerably weakened. The probabilities are that some 
of the joists in the walls or under the floors of your kitchen are infested by these 
insects which become full grown in the spring and attain wings. The winged indi- 
viduals may be destroyed by insect powder, but the annual flight will continue until 
the colony is destroyed. This can only be done by either renewing the timbers or 
by injecting a quantity of kerosene into the burrows, which, of course, must first he 
discovered an/1 uncovered. — [June 3, 1893.] 
Carbolic Acid for Rose Chafers. 
I have been spending considerable time and material on the rose bug or Rose 
Chafer, as it^has been our worst enemy on our grape tracts, endeavoring to find some 
remedy and have succeeded at last. Nothing among our poisons will kill them 
except one article, and that is crude carbolic acid; they can not live ten seconds put 
into it, and 1 gallon of acid to 100 gallons of water will clean them from fruit trees 
or grape vines and not injure fruit or foliage. I found this out by experimenting 
when they were abundant this year, and procured a horse-power spraying machine 
and went over 23 acres that were covered with them and cleaned them out. This 
was about the 18th of June when the grapes were in blossom, and only one applica- 
