116 [Assembly 



From the above statement, it seems probable that the mites had 

 their source in the establishment in which they were packed — an 

 infested pork-packing house, as in the instance above cited. As a 

 remedy, simple, inexpensive and probably effectual, recommendation 

 was made to Mr. Wessels of dipping the meat in a weak mixture 

 of carbolic acid and water. Used in the proportion of one part of 

 the acid to one hundred parts of water, it would, with scarcely a 

 doubt, destroy the mite, not injure the meat for food, nor would the 

 creosotic odor of the carbolic acid impart a disagreeable smell to it. 



Before venturing to recommend tlie above wash for a meat which 

 is sometimes partaken of in an uncooked state, the opinion of Dr. 

 Willis G. Tucker, of the Albany Medical College, distinguished as 

 a chemist, was asked, and the folio wing answer received : 



Yours, concering use of carbolic acid for destroying flour-mites on tarn, is at 

 Land. Tiie internal dose of tlie acid is about one grain (or one drop of the 

 diliquesced crystals) for an adult. In large enough quantity or a sufficiently con- 

 centrated state, it is a caustic, escharotic, and violent poison. It must be used 

 with care, and I would suggest the possibility of its affecting the salableness of 

 the hams, for its odor, slightly different from creosote, might prove objectionable. 

 It is soluble in twenty parts of water. A strength of 1 to 500 is said to instantly 

 destroy vegetable mould, both plant and s^iores, and to operate with equal 

 destructiveness upon microscopic animalculse. Hobbescyler says that all inferior 

 organisms perish in a solution of 1 to 100. It is used at about this strength to 

 kill the itch-insect, body-lice, etc. I would suggest trying a solution of this 

 strength (1 to 100) or say an ounce to a gallon (1 to 128). If this should be effect- 

 ual, I do not see how it can hurt the meat, and it ceriainly would be perfectly 

 safe. If this does not kill the mites, then I would try double the strength. 



A Parasitic Mite Attacking the Colorado Potato -Beetle. 



From a gentleman in Middlesex county, Mass., some live potato- 

 beetles were received, to which were attached numbers of " bugs 

 or lice," with the statement that he had found many of the dead 

 beetles thus infested and only a few live ones that were not attacked, 

 and it seemed as if the beetles would all be killed. 



The supposed lice proved to be a very interesting parasite which 

 has been known for several years past to attack the Colorado potato- 

 beetle, and, as in the present instance, to render valuable service in 

 reducing the numbers of this pest. Its principal interest, perhaps, 

 is in the fact that, up to the present, only two or three true parasites 

 of this beetle have been discovered among its thirty or more known 

 natural enemies. 



As an aid in the recognition of this parasite, it may be stated that 

 they are quite minute forms, as five of them placed closely together 

 would not exceed in surface that of the head of an ordinary pin. 

 Their color is yellowish-brown, and in general shape they resemble 

 many of the lady-bugs {CoccinelUdce), being oval, flat beneath and 

 convex above. When examined with a microscope, they are found 



