345 



AN IMPORTANT PUBLICATION ON SPIDERS. 



Mr. Nathau Banks has just published iu the Proceedings of the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, a paper entitled "The 

 Spider Fauna of the Upper Cayuga Lake Basin," in which he considers 

 three hundred and sixty-three species and describes many new forms. 

 The paper is illustrated by five plates of structural details. Judging 

 from the comparative table of local lists of spiders the upper Cayuga 

 Lake basin seems to be a particularly favorable region of country for 

 these arthropods. 



AN ALEYRODES ON THE STRAWBERRY. 



Mr. H. Garman gives an account in Agricultural Science (Yol. v. pp. 

 264-5 of Alei/rodes- vaporarium? Westw., a nearly cosmopolitan green- 

 house pest, which he finds on the Strawberry on the grounds of the 

 State College at Lexington, Ky. Toward fall the young scales are 

 present in abundance on the under side of the leaves. The winged 

 adults of the brood appear late in the fall, and, after leaving eggs for 

 another generation, disappear. Young scales, which the writer believes 

 hatched from the eggs deposited by the fall brood, are to be found on 

 strawberry leaves in March of the next season. This scale is not con- 

 fined to the Strawberry but attacks also the Tomato, and the same or a 

 closely related species is found on the leaves of Abutilon avicenne. 



ABUNDANCE OF ATTAGENUS PICEUS IN ILLINOIS. 



One of our Illinois correspondents, Mrs. Horace French, of Elgin, 

 Kane County, writes us under date of February 10, 1892, of the de- 

 structive Carpet Beetle, Attagenus piceus Ol. {me{)atoma Fab.), specimens 

 of which she has sent us, in that locality. This beetle, for which there 

 is no common name, is a member of the family Dermestidie and a near 

 relative of the socalled Butt'alo Moth, or Buffalo Carpet Beetle. Pre- 

 vious mention has been made of this species in Insect Life, Yol. iii 

 (pp. 65, 66, and 170). According to our correspondent, many houses in 

 Elgin are infested with the Buffalo Carpet Beetle, but little damage is 

 done except during the warmer months, while the Attagenus seems to 

 work constantly throughout the year, unmindful of change of tempera- 

 ture. 



A Peoria housekeeper has had a similar annoying experience, being 

 compelled to keep all articles of woolen, silk, or fur wearijig apparel, 

 not in constant use, tied up in strong paper bags. Mrs. French men- 

 tions a dozen or more remedies which she had employed, but all with 

 indifferent success. Her house was so completely overrun with the 

 pests that after taking up carpets and discovering the full extent of 

 their ravages, it was deemed unsafe to replace them. 



Benzine, in the form of a spray, if carefully and persistently applied 

 to the walls and crevices of the floor, will eventually rid infested houses 



