353 



Qitely. The concrete proof of such capacity with species in entomology is seldom 



obtained, and we have, therefore, to rely upon an assemblage of characters which 



differ in their relative value in different groups. A chai'acter accepted with justice 



as of specific value in one group may have varietal weight in another and generic 



j value in a third. The consensus of opinion among the best authors in a given group 



I'should decide the question of relative importance of any given character. You will 



leather from my Avritiugs in the past on the subject of classification that most of the 



, [lefinitions we are employing are purely conventional, aud that we have, for the most 



I part, in nature, but a series of alliances. The test of continuous perpetuation, when- 



i aver it has been made in different orders of insects, has always enlarged the concep- 



yitions of specific limit by showing <i much greater variation than has been previously 



1 Inferred ; in other words, experience tends to what is known as lumping in specific 



. characters, while the beginner is very apt to see specific characters in the minutest 



lifierences. The philosophical way of defining species is to allow value only to those 



jharactcrs which prove absolutely constant, and to denote as varieties or subspecies 



, those difiereuces which, inferentially, we are justified in believing to be non-spe- 



Jitic— [C. V. R. 



THE RAVAGES OF BOOK WORMS. 



Science for March 24 (vol. xxi, p. 158) contains under the above title an 

 iccouut of the ravages of three species of insects in books. Dr. 

 Samuel A. Green, at a recent meeting of the Massachusetts Histori- 

 cal Society, exhibited two A^olumes that had been ruined by the so- 

 I called "book-worms," and made some remarks on the subject. His 

 aotes, together with a letter from Mr. Samuel Garman, to whom the in- 

 |, sects were referred, are published in full. The species that wrought the 

 mischief in this instance are common household pests and are identified 



II by Mr. Garman us Lepisma saccharina (f), Anthremis varius, and Blatta 

 sp., the last mentioned being identified from its ^gg cases and excrement. 



k FURTHER ON BEE STINGS AND RHEUMATISM. 



I Mr. John Worthington, U. S. consul at Malta, has sent us a clipping 

 ^from the Malta Standard of April 11, which states that the theory that 

 ithe virus of the bee sting is an infallible remedy for acute rheumatism 



thas received most unquestionable confirmation from the practices of 

 Ifche country jDCople in Malta. Bees are said to be plentiful in the island 

 Tand the virtue of the sting as a cure for rheumatism has been long 



established. It is, in fact, said to have been a common practice for 

 1 generations past to resort to this remedy in all severe cases, the results 

 libeing most favorable. 



I THE MEDITERRANEAN FLOUR MOTH AGAIN. 



At the meeting of the Entomological Society of France, of December 

 1, 1892, M. Eagouot refers once more to the question of the origin of 

 kE2)hestia ImelmieUa. He mentions the adoption of the name " Mediter- 

 iranean Flour Pest "by the English, and the popular idea in Europe 

 I that the insect had been imported from America in flour or grain. 

 Without wishing to discuss the merits of the question he called the 

 attention of the society to the fact that a species of the family Phyci- 



