278 



with him. On pages 204-211 of vol. i, Ixsect Life, you vrill find an article on this 

 spicier, with illustrat-ious of the different forms and an account of a fatal case in. 

 North Carolina.— * " * [November 28, 1891.] 



Death due to the Whip Scorpion and Tarantula. 



* * * While I was in El Paso sometime since, some workmen were excavating 

 for a smelting furnace. One of them dug out of the ground a Whip Scorpion (we 

 called it TheJephonus excnbitor) and was stung by it, and died a few hours afterward. 

 Whether the man was in good health or not I am not able to say. I have known of 

 two healthy men bitten by a Tarantula, that made only an ugly sore ; a girl of twevel 

 years of age was bitten by one and died from the effects of the bite, but I am again 

 unable to say whether she was in good health or not. It seems that a very trifling 

 thing will sometimes cause death when a person is not healthy. 



The Mexicans call the Telephonus vinagron — smelling of vinegar. — [G. W. Dunn, 

 California, November 2, 1891. 



Tame Birds as Insect Destroyers in Greenhouses. 



A glass roof on the back biiihling of our dwelling gives us a garden 20 by 28 feet 

 in the third story which is warmed at night by waste heat from kitchen, dining, and 

 other rooms below. This attic garden we use as a laboratory for testing soils, plant 

 foods, and insecticides. We also winter our nioi'e tender and valued plants in it, and 

 this bring the insects and eggs along, so that all we have been able to do, with smok- 

 ing twice a week with tobacco stems and using other insecticides, was to keep the 

 Aphis in check, and get crops of lettuce and radishes far below what they might be 

 under other circumstances. We were obliged to exercise great cai'e, or the smoke 

 would kill the more tender flowering plants. We experienced much more trouble 

 with insects in this garden than in our larger plant houses outside. Being anxious 

 to find some means of managing the insect pests, less injurious to the plants, we di- 

 rected our studies to birds and placed in an Indigo Bird — FringUJa ciictnen — soon after 

 planting, and we are now marketing better radishes than at any time during the five 

 years we have been using the place. When we placed the bird in, the room was 

 swarming with wasps and various kinds of flies, which in a few days disappeared. 

 During this time the bird ate none of his seed. It is yet too wild to hunt or eat 

 during our presence. 



We do not claim to have discovered a complete remedy from a single or so short 

 a trial ; but the testimony so far is favorable, and my object in this letter is to en- 

 courage others to make experiments. We placed a wire screen over the ventilating 

 door to prevent the bird's escape. We believe that these birds, and perhaps any of the 

 FrinijUJa family, might be domesticated so as to occupy our gardens during summer^ 

 and remain in our plant houses during winter if fed and protected. Sylvia sialis, our 

 Blue Bird, Sylvia domcsiica, the House Wren, and others of that family, we have no 

 doubt, would clear plants of the Red Spider, which is often trouV)]esome. We once 

 placed a wounded Crow Blackbird in a conservatory, and when he recovered he 

 would tnrn up the leaves with his great bill and look under them for insects. In that 

 case the conservatory adjoined our dining room, and a Kobin and a Mocking Bird 

 would come to my shoulders, one on each, while at dinner. I learned of their power 

 of wing from strokes on my neck when they were fighting each other. As to the 

 woi-k of putting in wire doors and wires over the ventilators, the beautiful plumage 

 and melodious songs doubly repay all that. The beauty oi the richest collection of 

 plants is heightened by the lively flitting of birds, and birds never seem so pretty as 

 when perching on plants. We were glad to notice your statement that the Quail, 

 Cardinal Grossbeak, and other birds ate the Potato Beetle, and presume you will 

 join us in our effort to cultivate public opinion to such a degree as will insure a better 

 protection for and a more friendly relation with our birds. — [K. Bingham, New Jer- 

 sey, December 1, 1891. 



