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HOLCUS LANATUS L. Velvet prrass. 
Extracts were not repellent to the Japanese beetle.— Metzger and 
Grant (277). 
MELIHIS IGENUTI FLORA Beauv. Molasses grass* 
This grass appears to be widely distributed end has many common 
names, such as capiro, efwatakfila grass, gordura grass, kifuta, melado, 
molasses grass, and stink grass. Some of the following reports fire 
doubtless greatly exaggerated. 
This grass was observed in Africa, particularly the Conpo. Owing 
to its strong odor it might be employed as a possible means of control- 
ling the tsetse fly.. The leaves ore covered with gl^ndul^r ha^rs which 
contain a viscid oil and which probably act as fly traps. In Portunuese 
Congo the natives use the grass for making beds for sitting fowls, or 
for dogs when about to give birth to youn/r, to prevent them from being 
attacked by fleas. In Brazil and Colombia it is believed that ticks 
cannot exist in pastures of this grass, doubtless because of the oil 
the leeves contain. It is further affirmed in south America that cattle 
tuat nave fed on tne grass, when moved to other pastures infested with 
ticks, are not attacked by these parasites for some time.— Dawe ( 115 ). 
A microscopic examination of the molasses rress showed that the 
leeves were covered with two kinds of hairs, blunt and shprp ones, 
most of which bore droplets of oil, although the oil probably escapeH 
only from the blunt hairs. A chemical examination showed thpt the 
fresh plant yielded only 0.001 percent of volatile oil, which consist- 
ed largely of free acids and esters.— Kew Royal Botanic Gardens (227). 
In San Salvador the planting of this grass was suggested to destroy 
weeds and prevent the propagation of mites [JchiggersJ.— Renson ( 319 ) . 
Tests at the Puerto Rico Experiment Station showed that molasses 
grass did not destroy ticks ( Boophilus ( Margaropus ) annul a t us austral is 
Fuller) , but repelled them. In a pasture sown exclusively with it and 
where no other plents of about the same height occur, ticks that fall 
from animals are likely to die, being unable to recch new hosts.— 
Menendez Ramos ( 275 ) . 
This grass was reported in Guatemala to possess marked adhesive 
properties and to be capable of trapping only small insects. Newly 
hatched ticks were trapped and killed as they attempted to climb up 
the stems, and cattle pastured exclusively on this grass we^e reported 
to become entirely free from ticks within a year. It should also be 
useful planted between sugarcane fields to control leefhoppers or border- 
in."; sugar beet fields where curly top is a danger, while as a trap crop 
for aphids it is ideal. — Smyth (370). 
