THE MUSEUM. 



A Monthly Magazine Devoted to Research in Natural Science. 



Vol. \' 



ALBION. N. Y.. FEBRUARY 15, 1899 



No. 4 



JTHE MUSEUIVL 



A Monthly Magazine devoted to Ornithology, 



Oology, Mollusca, Echinodermata, 



Mineralogy and Allied 



Sciences. 



Walter F. Webb, Editor and Manager 

 Albion, N. Y. 



Correspondence and Items of Interest on above top- 

 ics, as well as notes on the various Museums of the 

 World— views from same, discoveries relative to the 

 handling and keeping of Natural History material, 

 descriptive habits of various species, are solicited 

 from all. 



Make articles as brief as possible and as free from 

 technical terms as the subjects will allow. All letters 

 win l)e promptly answered. 



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Entfrtd at Albion pott-office as gecond-ctafg mail matter 



Two Insect Samsons. 



BY JAMES WEI!?, JR. 



When Samson stood between the 

 pillars of the temple of Dagon and 

 "bowed himself," thereby occasioning 

 the mighty pile to fall in ruins upon 

 his head, as well as upon the heads of a 

 multitude of his enemies, he evinced 

 extraordinary and super-normal 

 strength; yet it was my good fortune 

 recently to witness exploits of great 

 strength, by the side of which the cap- 

 tive Hebrew's avenging blow pales al- 



most into utter insignificance. When 

 I declare that the actors in these feats 

 were two lowly "pinching bugs," I am 

 afraid that some of my readers will de- 

 chire that I am drawing on my imag- 

 ination. And yet, that which I am 

 about to relate can easily be verified 

 by anyone who will take the trouble 

 to investigate and to experiment. 



I.TSt summer I went to a "cake 

 walk " which was given at night in the 

 ci'j park. I had secured a good view- 

 point TJnd was enjoying the amusing 

 antic= "f a couple of cake walkers 

 when I felt something alight on the 

 collar of my outing shirt. The enter- 

 tainment was in the open air, the 

 walking course being one of the foot- 

 paths of the park, which was brilliant- 

 ly illuminated. I had noticed many 

 moths and beetles flying about the 

 lights: so knew at once that my visit- 

 or was a "bug" of some kind. I put 

 up my hand and seized it, when, sud- 

 denly, a spasm of pain darted from my 

 finger tips to my shoulder. In my 

 agony and surprise I emitted a yell 

 which occasioned the two cake walk- 

 ers to execute several steps not down 

 in their repertory. On examination, 

 I found that I had got the tip of my 

 middle finger between the mandibles 

 of the largest stag beetle ( Lucanus 

 elephas) that I had ever seen. His 

 mandibles were carefully pried apart 

 by a friend and my finger released. 

 The size of the beetle was 2', inches 

 long and g of an inch broad. He is 

 much more noticeable with his branch- 

 ing, staglike "horns" which are not 

 horns, but mandibles . broad, flatten- 



