OF WASHINGTON. 189 
hollows out a large chamber, wherein the eggs are deposited and the 
larvae mature. Another very similar exception I was fortunate to discover 
last year in southern Florida. While in Key West I found about the 
middle of April on the cocoa plum ( Chrysobalanus icaco) a single specimen 
of an undescribed Xyleborus belonging to the pyri group. Two weeks 
later, while staying at Cocoanut Grove, Biscayne Bay, I found on the same 
tree another much smaller and otherwise quite distinct specimen in which 
I recognized the male of the species found at Key West. I began now a 
careful investigation of the dead branch (from a tree cut down some weeks 
previously) upon which the specimen was found, and which was about 12 
mm. in diameter. Holes of the requisite size and leading straight into the 
wood I found plenty, but they were either emptv or occupied by a specimen 
of the polyphagous Hypothenemus eruditus, which seems to construct these 
holes only for feeding purposes, as I never found any egg chamber or 
larvae. Finally I found an entrance-hole which for nearly two millimetres 
went straight into the wood, then there came a short elbow downward, and 
then it was rather suddenly enlarged into a capacious chamber of irregu- 
lar oval shape, which reached to within the core of the branch. In this 
chamber there was one pair of the Xyleborus, and on its lower innermost 
corner another smaller chamber opened of more elongate shape, and being 
entirely within the core. This smaller chamber proved to be the " nursery," 
as on its bottom 1 found a number of eggs laid in ^. heap and some recently 
hatched larvae. I hope to describe the species at a future opportunity and 
propose to name it after its food plant. 
MARCH i, 1888. 
Thirteen persons present. President Schwarz in the chair. 
The chairman of the Publication Committee presented a copy 
of the Proceedings, No. 2. 
Prof. Riley presented a paper entitled "A Contribution to the 
Literature of Fatal Spider Bites."* He mentioned the common im- 
pression that such cases are of frequent occurrence, on the one hand, 
and the disbelief, as common among Arachnologists, on the other, 
and then gave details of a case that had recently come to his at- 
tention from Greensboro, N. C., where a specimen of Latrodectus 
mactans caused the death of a farm hand. He concluded with a 
review of the literature of the subject. 
Mr. Lugger mentioned a case of poisoning by a spider which 
happened some four years since in his own family. In very early 
spring, before vegetation had become very active, his little 
See Insect Life i, pp. 204-211, 1888. 
