659 
1 §8o.] Analyses of Books. 
The author’s account of the natural enemies of the cotton- 
worm is exceedingly interesting. A^ong them figure swine, 
dogs, cats, racoons, the common “ leather-wing ” bat, domestic 
poultry, and almost all the insertivorous birds of the Southern 
States, among which the king-bird ( Tyvcinnus cciYolinensis ) and 
the mocking-bird ( Mimus polyglottus ) are perhaps the most 
effi Some planters have been tempted to call in the aid of the 
English sparrow, the introduction of which into America may be 
regarded as one of the most ill-advised pieces of “ acclimatisa- 
tion ” ever perpetrated. Every naturalist knows that this 
marauder, though it feeds its young on inserts, is yet during its 
adult life by preference a devourer of gram and fruits. 1 heir 
hostility to the harmless and useful swallow-tribe is ground 
enough for their death-warrant. We are therefore by no means 
surprised that the sparrow is decidedly condemned by such emi- 
nent authorities as Dr. Elliott Coues. Our American friends 
will find, however, that the elimination of this pest, wherever it 
is once introduced, is a matter of extreme difficulty, since every 
known scheme for its destruction arts also upon those species of 
birds which it is desirable to preserve. 
Next follows an enumeration of the invertebrate enemies ol 
the cotton-worm, including spiders, dragonflies, bugs, beetles, 
ants, wasps, and a group of two-winged flies, of which the prin- 
cipal species are Eyclx apicalis and E. BastciYdii. These ciea- 
tures are sufficiently powerful to overcome even bees, wasps, 
and hornets, whose sting seems to have little effect upon 
them. They certainly destroy numbers of the cotton-moth ; but 
these flies occasion such losses to the bee-keeper that their ser- 
vices in other respects are more than outweighed. A fly of this 
kind has been known to kill more than a hundred bees in a single 
day. The Eyclx , though so fearfully carnivorous in its adult 
state, commences life as a vegetarian. . , 
The interesting experiments made by the author to induce the 
destruction of the cotton-worm through the action of Fungi 
gave only negative results. He considers it, however, by no 
means improbable that some practical and economical method 
of parasitising noxious inserts may yet be discovered. 
Experiment with poisons have also been made. It seems to 
us that the wholesale use of such agents as arsenious acid and 
potassium cyanide is fraught with very serious danger. 
It appears that while Aletia aYgillacea is ruinous to the cotton 
plantations in its larva state, when mature it occasions no little 
damage to peaches, grapes, figs, melons, &c. These epicurean 
propensities seem to point to the possibility oi destroying the 
enemy by means of poisoned sweets, but no very decided success 
has been achieved. . . . . . 
The boll-worm,” Heliothis aYmigeYa, is considered as scarcely 
less to be dreaded than the cotton-worm, and it extends its 
