4° 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



taken here were quite fresh. The pupa has 

 however already been figured by Packard in 

 his paper on the beetles of the cave. While 

 I devoted myself to hunting under stones 

 and boards for other insects, taking only 

 an occasional specimen of Anophthalmus, 

 " Pete " and N. were capturing numbers 

 of the latter, all of them resting in exposed 

 places upon the side walls, where it was 

 quite damp, and usually several feet from 

 the floor. They were not at all difficult to 

 find or to capture, and we took about thirty 

 specimens while rapidly passing over the 

 first half mile of our route back to the river. 



The party overtook us soon after we 

 reached the boats, and without making 

 any further stops we hurried back, reaching 

 the mouth of the cave at 8 o'clock p.m. 



I intended to return to Hebe's Spring on 

 the following day, as our examination of 

 this locality was entirely insufficient, half 

 of the day being consumed on the journey 

 there and back. This however proved my 

 last collecting in the cave, for on reaching 

 the hotel I found a message summoning 

 me home. 



In examining the results of my two days' 

 collecting I find in forty specimens of 

 Anophthalmus Tellkampfii but little varia- 

 tion. Of twelve A. Menetriesii, three 

 show considerable variation in size and 

 form, and one is plainly pubescent. An 

 undoubtedly new species of this genus has 

 been detected among specimens of the 

 latter species, which I have named A. 

 interstitialis* A small mite {Acarus ?) in- 

 fests the bodies of the Anophthalmi. While 

 studying the larva of Adelops, and observ- 

 ing the action of the muscular lobes that 

 close the rectum at the end of the anal tube, 

 by pressure I succeeded in expelling the 

 foeces in ovoidal masses, and along with 

 them several thread-like bodies, curved in 

 the shape of a fish-hook and pointed at 

 the ends. Under a magnifying power of 

 ■250 diameters they appear to be filled 

 with granules, and are thicker and shorter 

 than Trichina spiraHs. I suspect that they 

 are intestinal worms. 



[TV be i:ontinucd.'\ 



* A description of it will he found in the Descriptive columns 

 of this number. — Ed. 



SOME REMARKS ON FUNGI CONSIDERED AS 

 INSECTICIDES. 



BY PROF. W. H. SEAMAN, WASHINGTON, D. C. 



An article has recently appeared in the 

 Canadian Entomologist for June last from 

 the pen of Dr. H. A. Hagen, in which it is 

 proposed to propagate certain parasitic and 

 other fungi to destroy insects injurious to 

 Agriculturists. The success of this novel 

 remedy depends on the genetic connection 

 alleged to exist between the fly fungus, 

 " common mould," the yeast fungus, and a 

 small water plant known only to profes- 

 sional botanists. What this latter may be 

 is altogether left to conjecture. The con- 

 nection is vouched for by Dr. Bail of 

 Prussia, whose experiments cover more than 

 a dozen years, but whose views are " not 

 accepted by prominent botanists." 



It is unfortunate for students of fungi 

 that the names of the above plants are not 

 given with more precision, " common 

 mould " and " a small water plant known 

 only to professional botanists " are not suf- 

 ficiently definite terms to inspire confidence 

 in the investigations on which the new 

 remedy is founded. 



The word mould in popular language is 

 applied to many species of cryptogamous 

 plants that differ widely in character, and 

 have no genetic connection with each 

 other. The mould on paper on damp walls, 

 is usually a Chaetomium, that on pea leaves 

 is an Erysiphe, both of which bear their 

 spores in little capsules, or asci. The 

 mould on fermenting liquors is at first some 

 Torula, which Pasteur has shown is inti- 

 mately connected with the process of fer- 

 mentation. It consists of single cells that 

 propagate by budding, and it is not yet 

 demonstrated that they increase in any 

 other manner. It is to this plant the names 

 of " yeast fungus," " vinegar plant," etc. are 

 given. When the Torulas have exhausted 

 the sugar, other species of moulds, as As- 

 pergillus and Penicillium appear to com- 

 plete the decomposition of the fluid. Again, 

 the moulds composed of masses of white 

 threads that appear in cellars on damp 

 wood, etc. are not perfect fungi at all, but 



