April, ’23] 
SCIENTIFIC NOTES 
227 
Zoological Record assisted by the Imperial Bureau of Entomology. The at¬ 
tention of Entomologists throughout the world is called to the fact that, beginning 
with the Volume for 1922, the preparation of the “Insecta” part of the “Zoological 
Record,” is being undertaken by the Imperial Bureau of Entomology. In order 
that the Record may be as complete as it is possible to make it, all authors of ento¬ 
mological papers, especially of systematic ones, are requested to send separata of 
their papers to the Bureau. These are particularly desired in cases where the original 
journal is one that is not primarily devoted to entomology. All separata should be 
addressed to:—The Assistant Director, Imperial Bureau of Entomology, 41, Queen’s 
Gate, London, S. W. 7, England. 
Tachinids and Sarcophagids Established in Mexico. It may be noted that as 
a matter of record the two flies Euzenilliopsis diatraeae Towns., and Sarcophaga sterno- 
dontis Towns., each parasitic on Diatraea saccharalia Fab., have recently been intro¬ 
duced into the west coast region of Mexico, from Cuba. A total of 590 adult flies 
of the two species were reared from some 2,550 puparia sent by the writer from the 
provinces of Matanzas and Habana, Cuba, during the summer of 1922, and were 
released on the plantations of the United States Sugar Companies, S. A., at Los 
Mochis* Sinaloa, Mexico. The exact number of each species released is uncertain, 
but the bulk of the puparia sent were of the Tachinid species. These introductions 
were made with a view to the control of Diatraea lineolata Walker, which, with Chilo 
loftini Dyar, is a sugar-cane pest of major importance in the state of Sinaloa. 
R. H. Van Zwaluwenburg, United Sugar Cos., S. A., Los Mochis, Sin., Mexico 
The Tropical Fowl Mite ( Liponyssus bursa Berlese). This mite has been reported 
from two places in the United States,—Beltsville, Md. and Raymond, Ill. (U. S. D. 
A., Dept. Circ. 79, 1920). 1 According to the writer of the circular, both of these 
infestations were stamped out through active measures taken by officials of the 
United States Department of Agriculture. On Jan. 10, 1923, a student in the 
Winter Course at Cornell, brought me some feathers from fowls heavily infested 
with a mite. All stages of the mite were present and the fluffy parts of the feathers 
were almost a solid mass of eggs, nymphs, adults, cast skins and excreta. On ex¬ 
amination it proved to be the tropical fowl mite. This student told me that he had 
this mite on his fowls for the past two years. He obtained some infested feathers 
from his fowls and the mite proved to be the same species. Accordingly the writer 
can report the presence of this mite at Closter, New Jersey and in two poultry yards 
here at Ithaca. In talking with this student he told me that his infestation appeared 
on his Plain Polish White fowls shortly after he had exhibited them at the Boston 
Poultry Show two years ago. He has had serious trouble from this mite and has 
been unable to control it. As the English Sparrow is a host of this species he elimi¬ 
nated this bird from his yards, cleaned up his fowls but stifl they would become 
seriously infested within a short time. As the Starling is a common bird about 
Closter, N. J. and it is known to be a host of this mite the reinfestations probably 
came from this source. 
This mite is undoubtedly a serious pest of poultry and is said to be a carrier of 
spirachaetosis of fowls. Although this disease has not been recorded from the 
x It has also been reported recently from the Poultry houses of the Indiana Agr. 
xp. Sta. at Purdue, Indiana as Liponyssus silviarum. 
