455 
'Bull  Frog’  {Bufo  marmus) 
The  faeces  of  a  number  of  freshly  captured  examples  of  this 
common  batrachian  were  carefully  examined  in  the  hopes  of  finding 
traces  of  cattle  ticks  in  them,  but  none  were  discoverable.  Seeing 
that  the  animal  is  subject  to  the  attacks  of  ticks,  it  may 
be  inferred  that  it  does  not  eat  them,  or  it  would  readily 
remove  the  parasites  from  its  own  body.  Such  a  feat  would, 
however,  be  an  anatomical  impossibility  on  the  part  of  the  host ; 
and  one  may  assume  that  it  does  not  act  the  part  of  the  Samaritan 
in.  removing  ticks  from  its  neighbour.  Several  tick-infested  toads 
were  kept  together  for  a  considerable  period,  and  it  was  quite 
evident  that  no  attempt  was  made  by  them  to  remove  the  parasites 
from  each  other.  The  remains  found  in  the  faeces  consisted  almost 
entirely  of  insects ;  some  comminuted,  others  quite  perfect ;  and  by 
far  the  larger  proportion  were  of  the  common  brown  Scarabaeid 
beetles  known  locally  as  '  Christmas  bugs  ’  {Ligyriis  fossor,  Latr.,  and 
Cyclocefhala  tetrica,  Voct.),  which  sometimes  swarm  in  the  house  and 
on  the  dining  table  at  night  when  the  lights  are  on. 
Rotation  of  Crops  as  a  Method  of  Eradicating 
Tick-infested  Pastures 
Various  plans  have  been  put  forward  in  the  United  States  of 
America  for  the  eradication  of  the  cattle  tick  by  adopting  a  system 
of  rotation  of  crops  suited  to  the  farms  in  certain  parts  of  the  country. 
Such  a  system,  however,  is  quite  impossible  in  Jamaica,  where  the 
pastures  are  laid  down  more  or  less  permanently. 
Results  Obtained  by  Burning  Pastures 
This  was  a  question  which  was  also  submitted  to  the  pen-keepers. 
The  answers  to  this  were,  in  a  very  large  percentage  of  cases,  that  no 
beneficial  results  had  been  obtained  by  adopting  such  drastic 
measures,  and,  moreover,  they  nearly  all  agreed  that  pastures  so 
treated  became  more  heavily  infested,  a  few  weeks  afterwards,  than 
before  the  grass  was  fired.  But  the  contributors  were  certainly  not 
unanimous  in  regard  to  this  question.  Two  of  them  claimed  that  they 
had  obtained  ‘  very  good  ’  and  '  very  satisfactory  results  ’  respectively. 
Many  consider  the  burning  of  pastures  as  a  ruinous  proceeding,  as 
