86 



American, of Philadelphia, of August 33, 1891, instances the following 

 similar case, insanity occurring, it was believed, from the poisonous 

 bites of mosquitoes : 



Elizabeth, N. J., August 13. 

 Alexander Gordon, a fancy goods dealer here, became a raving maniac to-day from 

 loss of sleep caused by the torture he endured from mosquito bites, combined with 

 the intense heat. He ran through the streets with nothing on but his drawers, and 

 when finally captured by the police, he tore off the only garment he had on, and it 

 was necessary to wrap a rubber blanket around him to get him to the county jail, 

 where he had to be put in a strait-jacket. It is said his blood had been poisoned by 

 New Jersey's venomous pests. 



THE TRUE MALE OF POCOTA GRANDIS. 



In his synopsis of the North American Syrphidte Dr. Williston de- 

 scribes this large and baudsome Syrphid tly from a single specimen 

 from the State of Washington which is now in the collection of the U. S. 

 National Museum. By a clerical or proof-reader's error, the sex of the 

 type is stated in the synopsis to be male. Prof. O. S. Westcott, how- 

 ever, last May, sent us the true male, which he collected on Vancouver 

 Island the summer before. The male has the contiguous eyes found in 

 allied species and genera, but the most remarkable thing about it is a 

 long curved spine at the base of the middle femora, and which is one- 

 third the length of the femur itself; otherwise this sex does not differ 

 from the female. Professor Westcott captured the specimens on an 

 enormous elder bush. 



