June, '12] SCIENTIFIC NOTES 297 



Scientific Notes 



Queen Bees and Other Insects in the Mails — Postmaster General Hitchcock 

 has amended Paragraph 7, Section 496, Postal Laws and Regulations, by sub- 

 stituting for the first clause thereof the following: 



Queen bees and then- attendant bees, when accompanied by a copy of a certificate 

 of the current year from a State or Government apiary inspector to the effect that 

 the apiary from which said queen bees are shipped is free from disease or by a copy 

 of a statement by the bee-keeper made before a notary pubhc or other officer having 

 a seal that the honey used in making the candy used in the queen mailing cage has 

 been diluted and boiled in a closed vessel. 



The whole paragraph as amended reads as follows: 



7. Queen bees and their attendant bees, when accompanied by a copy of a cer- 

 tificate of the cm-rent year from a State or Government apiary inspector to the effect 

 that the apiary from which said queen bees are shipped is free from disease or by a 

 copy of a statement by the bee-keeper made before a notary public or other officer 

 having a seal that the honey used in making the candy used in the queen maihng 

 cage has been diluted and boiled in a closed vessel; beneficial insects, when shipped 

 by departments of entomology in agricultural colleges and persons holding official 

 entomological positions; other live insects, when addressed to the Bm-eau of Ento- 

 mology of the United States Department of Agi-icultm-e, to departments of entomol- 

 ogy in State agricultm-al . colleges, and to persons holding official entomological 

 positions, and dried insects and dried reptiles, may be sent in the mails when so put 

 up as to render it practically impossible that the package shall be broken in transit, 

 or the persons handling the same be injm-ed, or the mail bags or then- contents soiled. 



Anthrenus verbasci Linn, is, as is well known, a common museum pest capable 

 of subsisting on a considerable variety of dry animal and vegetable substances. 

 Three years ago* we recorded the continuous breeding of this insect during a period 

 of seven years, datmg from April 4, 1902, in a two quart Mason jar kept tightly 

 closed and with no moisture aside from that in the somewhat dry corn it contained. 

 The conditions are practically the same as those recorded three years ago, aside from 

 the fact that there is more brown, honeycombed, sponge-like debris in the bottom 

 of the jar. There yet remains much uneaten corn and the insects, if anything, are 

 more abundant than three years ago. This record now covers a period of ten years 

 and, judging from conditions at present obtaining, may easily continue for another 

 decade or possibly longer. It is of interest, since it throws some light upon the 

 possibilities of insects living for long periods under unfavorable conditions. 

 E. P. Felt. 



*1909 Econ, Ent. Journ. 2:193. 



