'lllE r.VNALilA.N KNTu.NK i|.ui;lsT. 59 



to lie tial on the ground, and looks roni|)aiativcly feeble : thai ol the 



latter is ranker and stands nnich more upright. The plants now (January 



I St) look healthy and strong. P. rosciiiii lived out of doors in Ohio 



through last winter withcjut the slightest care or protection in a box above 



ground. .Some of the [ikinls began to grow in February, l)ut a hea\"y rain, 



followed immediately by a hard frost, unfortunately killed their roots late 



in the spring. Had they been in the ground this accident would hardly 



have hap]jened. .So far as I can now see /-'. ciiierai-ii/oliu)ii is the more 



hardy of the two. I will report later on my success, if I have any, during 



the coming season of i8tS3. 



K. ^\'. C'l.AVi'oi.i.. New Bloomfield, Pa. 



Dear Sir : An office-mate made a capture last summer in a novel 

 manner, but such as would not meet with the favor of entomologists as a 

 method of collecting. He had occasion one hot midsummer day (29th 

 June) to go out for a short time, and on returning complained that a tiy 

 had riown into his ear. and, having crawled in as far as possible, was 

 causing great annoyance b\- a disagreeable buzzing and scratching. I 

 advised him to pour a few drops of oil into the infested organ, or, better 

 still, i)erhaps. to seek a doctor and have the occupant extracted by skilled 

 labor. ( )n reaching his doctor's office he found that he was absent at a 

 medical convention, but after telephoning all over the city he found a 

 stay-at-home doctor to whom he went and stated the case. An examina- 

 tion of the ear was made, but the doctor could discover nothing in it, and 

 as the buzzing and scraping had then ceased, it was decided that the 

 insect had taken his departure. However, he said it would do no harm 

 to pour a little oil into the ear to allay the irritation which the fly had 

 caused. My friend had not gone far from the office when the insect, 

 which had only been taking a rest or " playing possum," commenced a 

 more violent commotion than ever, causing his unwilling host to hurry 

 home and try the anointing process. Hastily pouring in a itw drops of 

 oil, he lay down with his ear on a pillow, and almost immediately felt the 

 intruder withdrawing from his hiding-place and beating a retreat. Lifting 

 his head he was astonished to see. not a fiy, as he expected, but a long- 

 legged, active beetle, scampering away. This he imprisoned and bore back 

 triumphantly to me to identify. It j)toved to be a full-sized and lively 

 specimen of Acmceops pratcnsis. The doctor, on being afterward confronteil 

 with the jirisoner. was greatly surprised that it had so well secreted itselt 



