Mermis albicans was received during 1903 in a piece of apple, found 

 coiled near the seed. This species is known to be parasitic on the cod- 

 ling moth or "apple worm" (Carpocapsa pomonella Linn.), which 

 accounts for its presence in this instance (1. c, p. 827). It is also 

 parasitic on certain common and destructive forms of grasshoppers, 

 Melanoplus spretus Thos. or rocky mountain locust, M. differentialis 

 Thos. or differential locust, Schistocerca americana Dru., and Dtssos- 

 teira Carolina Linn.' 



LOSSES OCCASIONED BY RUMORS OF THE POISONOUS NATURE OF THE 



HAIR-WORM. 



The presence of this hair-worm in cabbage and the unfortunate noto- 

 riety which has been given it, including the circulation of the merest 

 rumors, mostly vague and uncertain, of so many persons being poisoned 

 by eating affected cabbage, has seriously injured the money value of 

 this vegetable very generally throughout the affected States. Although 

 the cabbage hair-worm is not in the slightest degree deleterious to 

 health, the credence given to the most absurd rumors which were cir- 

 culated has injured cabbage for consumption and hence for sale. In 

 parts of Illinois the fears of growers and purchasers were such that 

 farmers were letting their cabbage go to waste. At Quinter, Kans., 

 quantities of cabbage shipped from Colorado were reported burned 

 because of the presence of the hair-worm. In Tennessee it was esti- 

 mated that in 1904 fully 85 per cent of the cabbage crop of the State 

 was lost — in fact, a sudden and complete suspension of the industry 

 was actuall^^ caused. Similar reports were received from various por- 

 tions of Missouri, Iowa, West Virginia, and Virginia. " In Cheatham, 

 Smith, Franklin, Coffee, Bedford, and other counties [in Missouri] 

 hundreds of barrels of sauerkraut were destroj^ed through fear that the 

 dreaded snake might be a part of the ingredients." At Columbia, Mo., 

 hundreds of dollars wortli of cabbage were lost. Manj- gardeners claimed 

 that they could not sell a single head on account of the "snake scare." 



ALLEGED SICKNESS AND DEATH CAUSED BY HAIR-WORMS. 



The general impression in regard to the poisonous nature of the cab- 

 bage hair-worm has been mentioned, yet considerable differences of 

 opinion prevail. To repeat alleged deaths and poisoning in detail 

 .might have the opposite effect from that for which this circular was 

 prepared. Stories were circulated of whole families being poisoned b^'^ 

 eating cabbage affected with the hair-worm, sometimes with the reser- 

 vation that no one knew persona Ih/ of their truth, and that many 



1 The classification and habits of Mermis have not been given much study, hence 

 some slight doubt exists as to the species of Mermis observed in the case of some 

 of the hosts cited, but if one species will affect both lepidopterons larvae and 

 grasshoppers, this is evidence of its not being overparticular as to its host. 



