23 



with decaying vegetable matter, and I should say oflf-hand, without an examination 

 of the well, that the very presence of these larvae indicates that the water is not fit 

 to drink. If the well were perfectly clean and the water pure I believe that these 

 larvae would not be present, consequently cleanly measures are the ones which will 

 bring relief. The eggs are laid by a two-winged fly which frequents flowers. — [May 

 12, 1890.] 



The Bryobia Household Pest. 



In the summer of 18d8 I found a bay window swarming with red spider. I had 

 them cleaned down, the window washed outside and within. In a few days every- 

 thing was as bad as before. I again had it cleaned an<l rubbed — glass, casing, 

 and above, on the outside, with kerosene. As soon as the kerosene had dried out I 

 was afflicted as before. By this time I had discovered they were more or less on every 

 window with a northern aspect; they were also on the carpet, webbing from the 

 floor onto the base boards, and on the wall under the window-sills, where I could not 

 use kerosene. They were in the drapery, and could not be brushed ofl' without soil- 

 ing it. The only way was to hang it out, when they would drop off". 



Being very sensitive ab(mt "insect life" about my premises, having always kept 

 clear of it, it took some courage for me even to hint the case to my neighbor 20 

 rods away, and find out if she had seen the like. We examined her house thoroughly 

 on the northern side, and found no sign of it ; nor could I ever hear of or see, peer 

 round as much as I would, a case during that summer ; and so I concluded my house 

 was the only one whose door posts were not marked when the plague passed by. In 

 order to keep them down, I can not say clear of them, I sprinkled the carpet and 

 every thing that would not bear kerosene with gasoline, using perhaps a pint, being 

 sure there was no fire in the house, nor like to be before it would evaporate. Every 

 morning as soon as breakfast was over, I drew a broad line of kerosene across 

 the whole northern side of the house, sprinkled the ground with carbolic acid and 

 water. I found dandelions loaded with the spider ; while across the path 3 feet 

 wide, in the sun, there were none on the dandelions. At that time I supposed it was 

 the result of setting house plants troubled with red spider out on the north of the 

 house in 1880-1882, not since. 



In 1889 I saw two houses where rooms of northern aspect were troubled with them. 

 One was a house in which was no tenant, and in a week after it had been newly 

 painted (ecru-colored paint), newly papered, and well calcimined, it was a sight which 

 would drive a careful housekeeper to despair. 



The last case that came to my notice was in December, 1889, after we had had a 

 hard freeze (3 degrees below), then very mild weather. A lady and her husband, 

 spending the evening, told of the plague of red spider just infesting their house ; they 

 had never seen anything like it. This was on the northeast side of their house. — 

 [Mrs. H. S. Perry, Elgin, 111., May 5, 1^:90. 



Reply. — Your letter of May 5, giving an account of your experience with the so- 

 called "red spider" has been received. We are very much obliged to you for the 

 trouble you have taken in sending this account, which we shall take pleasure in pub- 

 lishing in a near number of Insect Life. An account of any further experience, 

 should these creatures bother you again, will be thankfully received. — [May 12, 1890.] 



Florida Orange Scales in California. 



We are somewhat alarmed at the great quantities of imported Florida trees that 

 haveof late been brought into the State largely infested with the Florida scales, nota- 

 bly the Long Scale {Mijlilaspisf/loverii), thu Purple Scale (Mt/tilas2)iscitricola), and the 

 Cbafl" Scale (F'arlatoria pergandei), and also the Florida Red Scale {Aspidlotus ficus). 

 I inclose you some leaves taken from trees planted a year ago at Downey. Knowing 



