i 3 6 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



has given rise to similar lines of develop- 

 ment, starting from types having more or 

 less in common. The discussion was so 

 satisfactory to the section that a committee 

 was appointed to consider upon the selection 

 of a subject for a similar series of papers at 

 the next meeting. 



Insect Aid for our Orange-growers. 



Bulletin No. 21 of the Division of Entomol- 

 ogy is entitled Report of a Trip to Austra- 

 lia, made imder Direction of the Entomol- 

 ogist to investigate the Natural Enemies of 

 the Fluted Scale. Mr. Koebele, the divis- 

 ional agent who makes the report, acting 

 under instructions from Prof. Riley, and 

 aided by funds through the State Depart- 

 ment, and the courtesy of Hon. Frank Mc- 

 Coffin, Commissioner-General to the Mel- 

 bourne Exposition of 1888-89, sailed for 

 Australia in August, 1888, where he re- 

 mained until March of the succeeding year, 

 collecting and making shipments to Cali- 

 fornia of the parasites of the fluted scale. 

 No little difficulty was experienced in find- 

 ing sufficiently large colonies of the scale to 

 obtain enough specimens infested with para- 

 sites, as the latter, aided by other enemies, 

 have reduced and nearly exterminated the 

 seerya in Australia. A large number of a 

 small dipterous parasite were shipped, but, 

 as this is a slow breeder, its work has been 

 eclipsed by a small lady-bird which was 

 afterward discovered and comprised the ma- 

 jor part of the later shipments. This lady- 

 bird, called the Vedalia, has done such good 

 service that the fluted scale is now practi- 

 cally overcome in California, and orange- 

 growers have again taken heart. The re- 

 port deals besides with injurious insects 

 observed during Mr. Koebele's stay in the 

 country, among the most notable being the 

 orange and olive scales, and a scale known 

 as Monophlcebus, remarkable for its im- 

 mense size, being larger than any hereto- 

 fore known. All of these scales are highly 

 injurious, and figures accompany the descrip- 

 tions of them, besides which is mentioned 

 and figured a snout beetle imported from 

 the Mediterranean region, which is very in- 

 jurious to the young shoots and leaves of 

 the olive. In addition to the dipterous par- 

 asite {Lcstophonus) and the Vedalia before 

 mentioned, as forming the bulk of the ship- 



ments for California, there were also included 

 a number of other beneficial predatory in- 

 sects. These were several small coccinel- 

 lids of the genera Scymnus, Coccinella, Rodo- 

 lia, and Zeis, all of which are more or less 

 important as scale-destroyers. As a rival 

 of the last there were brought over about a 

 hundred larvae of a noctuid moth ( TJialpo- 

 chares cocciphaya), which is a most efficient 

 scale-eater in its larva state and promises to 

 become a valuable adjunct to our other in- 

 troduced scale enemies. The work, however, 

 of the lady-bird ( Vedalia cardinalis) has been 

 so very effective that the other species have 

 been kept in the background and probably 

 driven to the wall. Within a year after its 

 introduction the Vedalia had practically ex- 

 terminated the Icerya and given a renewed 

 impulse to orange culture in California. 

 Great credit is due to Prof. Riley for the 

 scientific work that has secured this impor- 

 tant result. 



The Tarantula. The tarantula, says A. J. 

 Field, in Knowledge, is one of the largest but 

 not the most venomous species of spiders 

 found in Europe. It is one of the Zycosidw, 

 or wolf-spiders, is about three quarters of an 

 inch long, and is covered all over its body 

 with an olive, dusky-brown down. During 

 the summer months, while creeping among 

 the corn, it bites people employed in the 

 fields, but the bite, though painful, is seldom 

 dangerous. According to Dr. Zangrilli, the 

 part bitten becomes deadened soon after- 

 ward, and in a few hours there are slight 

 convulsive shiverings, cramps of the mus- 

 cles, and spasm of the throat, followed by 

 vomiting and a three days' fever. Recov- 

 ery generally follows after a copious per- 

 spiration, but in one case there was tetanus 

 and death on the fourth day. The tarantula 

 is common in Spain, southern France, and 

 Italy, where it occurs in great numbers in 

 Apulia round the town of Taranto. It has 

 been found in Asia and in northern Africa. 

 It lives in dry places, partly overgrown with 

 grass and fully exposed to the sun, in an 

 underground passage which it digs for itself 

 and lines with its web. These passages are 

 round, sometimes an inch in diameter, and 

 extend to the depth of a foot or more below 

 the surface. This spider is very quick in 

 its movements, and eager in the pursuit of 



