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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



at the base of the large one. On the head is 

 another short, upright, pointed horn, giving 

 the insect a very formidable appearance. 

 This insect has a very strong and lasting 

 odor, comparable to that of tobacco steeped 

 in acetic acid. A single specimen placed in 

 a large room will saturate the atmosphere 

 in a single night, and be perceptible for days 

 thereafter. In the larval state this insect 

 resembles an immense " white grub," in 

 form and structure, but is greenish in color. 

 In this stage it feeds on decaying wood. In 

 the vicinity of Memphis, Tennessee, are 

 thousands of stumps of trees cut some ten 

 years since, and now in just the right stage 

 of decay for this larva. As a consequence, 

 the insect has increased to such an extent 

 as to become literally a nuisance. In the 

 month of June or July an intense disagree- 

 able odor was noticed in some outlying sec- 

 tions of the city, becoming stronger in the 

 evening. The Board of Health took action 

 in the matter, drained a few pools, disin- 

 fected other unsavory substances, but pro- 

 duced no effects on the odors. Various 

 speculations were rife in the newspapers as 

 to the cause and effect of the odors, until, 

 finally, a correspondent of the " Memphis 



Avalanche" solved the mystery by finding 

 large numbers of this insect, which were 

 straightway sent off for determination. Later 

 in the season complaints came from Western 

 Virginia of similar foul smells. Here the 

 health officers made war on the pig-pens, 

 without avail, of course, and here, also, in 

 due season, the source of the smell was dis- 

 covered in this beetle. 



The curious part of the matter is, that 

 this insect has been considered not a com- 

 mon one by entomologists, and now it ap- 

 pears in the light of a pest of a quite novel 

 order, polluting the air so as to become a 

 positive nuisance. "Whether the odor is at 

 all injurious to health, I can not say. It 

 will cause squeamishness in sensitive indi- 

 viduals, but it will hardly do more. The 

 remedy is, of course, obvious — remove the 

 stumps, and the source of supply is gone ; 

 more than this, the stumps remain in con- 

 dition for the larva? for a brief period only, 

 and another year or two will see the end of 

 this peculiar nuisance, unless the supply of 

 stumps or logs is kept up. 



Jons B. Smitji. 



U. S. Nat'l Musf.ttm, Washington, D. C, I 



September 9, 1SS6. ) 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



POLITICAL SKEPTICISM. 



AN able writer in the " Revue des 

 Deux Mondes " has lately drawn 

 attention to the extent to which what 

 he calls "political skepticism" prevails 

 to-day in France. He believes that it 

 exists in large measure in other coun- 

 tries as well ; but he deals with it prin- 

 cipally as affecting his own country. 

 lie says that, while men are still divided 

 into parties, there is no longer the ear- 

 nest belief in definite political principles 

 which was still to be found a genera- 

 tion or two ago. Men no longer adhere 

 to their party through strong convic- 

 tion or overmastering prejudice ; on 

 the contrary, their party is something 

 with which they make terms, and 

 which they expect to find their account 

 in serving. The Conservative is not so 

 very conservative as he used to be, and 

 the Liberal has a greatly diminished 

 faith in liberalism. Nobody expects 

 much from the logical application of 



any set of principles; the general dis- 

 position is to let things drift and wait 

 to see the result. 



The condition of things described 

 seems to us the natural effect of two 

 definite causes: first, the operation of 

 the party system ; and, second, the prac- 

 tice of looking to the government as 

 the conservator and manager of nearly 

 all important social interests. If any- 

 thing could undermine political convic- 

 tion it would be the party system. Its 

 very basis is the sacrifice of individual 

 convictions to party exigencies. It or- 

 ganizes the purchase of political support, 

 and reduces statesmanship to the igno- 

 ble level of trickery and clap-trap. We 

 do not need to go to France for an ex- 

 emplification of its working. Here, in 

 the United States, it has produced all 

 its choicest effects. So bent are our 

 leading politicians upon party and per- 

 sonal success that it is the rarest thing 

 to detect in their public speeches one 



