399 



almost sti;iifilit down and soiiu'tinu's 12 to 15 inches deep and over lialf an inch 

 wide. They aitpanntly deposit their egj^s in them, as I liave seen them near their 

 burrows, their bodies completely covered with little spiders that seemed in some way 

 to subsist on the parent. This spider is a powerful fellow, with vicious ey« and 

 powerful jaws. I have pinned their bodies with the tine of a pitchfork and they 

 would bite so hard that I could hear their teeth grit on the fork. 



I do not know whether they are poisonous or not, but I know I do not want one of 

 them to bite me. They are very quick and active when they want to be so. They 

 have powerful limbs and very lar<je bodies, almost as largo as sonu) mounted speci- 

 mens that I hjiv(< seen of the Tarantula. — [.Jolin March, Wisconsin, A}>ril 21, 1892. 



Grasshopper Depredations in Ohio in 1891. 



I beg leave to call your attention to tlie depredations of grasshojtjters Avliich have 

 been going on in this vicinity for several years past, and especially for the last two 

 years. 8o great has been their destruction that my Timothy and Clover, as well as 

 permanent pasture, have been destroyed root and branch on several hundred acres of 

 land. The summer of 1890 all of my spring sowing of clover and timothy, about 200 

 acres, was destroyed by them, and the summer of 1891 all spring sowings and other 

 grasses, amounting to 500 or 600 acres, as I have stated. It is difhcult to estimate 

 damages, but they will run up in the thousands. I am carrying on dairying and 

 stock-raising, and it is discouraging indeed to find one's land bare and m.ule so by 

 the ravages of the gra.sshoppers. My experience is the experience of many others, 

 except probably not on so large a scale. I l)ought last season of the Nixon Nozzle 

 Company, of Dayton, Ohio, a hand spraying-i)ump for the purpose of experimenting 

 with the different preparations reconnnended for the destruction of insects, but to no 

 purpose. I used a preparation made by the Nixon Nozzle Company ; I also used Paris 

 green, and ajiplied on grass where the insects were plenty and where stock was not 

 allowed to run. It has no perceivable effect on the hoppers. * * * — [John Ferris, 

 Ohio. April 4, 1892, to F. M. Webster. 



Tin-can Remedy and Paper Wrappers for Cut-worms. 



I notice in a recent issue of Insect Life you recommend the use of old tin cans for 

 preventing the work of cut-worms upon tomatoes, cabbages, and other plants. I 

 have tried that plan and found that in a hot sunshine it would draw the heat so as to 

 kill tomato plants unless covered during t]n' heat of the day. I then tried wrappinf 

 the plants from the roots to top of plant when setting with common newspaper, wrap- 

 ping it around three or four times and then setting deep, so as to have the bottom of 

 the pajier two or three inches below the surface of the ground. I found that this was 

 a perfect protection against cut- worms and that the heat did not hurt the plants. The 

 paper lasts as long as needed in this rainy climate and needs no tying, nor does it 

 ever have to be removed, one operation being sufficient for the whole season, and 

 you are sure there are no cut- worms inside of it, which is not the case when using 

 the cans. I have only used it one year and had such good success I shall try it 

 again. — [James B. Smith, North Carolina, April 9, 1892.] 



NOTES FROM CORRESPONDENCE. 



The new Herbarium Pest. — Mr. W. H. Evans, of Crawfordsville, Ind., wrote ns 

 March 7 that he found recently three larvie of our new herbarium pest, Carphoxera 

 pfeharia, on some Arizona plants of last season's collecting. The plants attacked 

 were Pentstemon and Castillia, and the3' were badly riddled. 



A new Peach Pest. — Through the kindness of Mr. .1. L. Hardy, of Harris County, 

 Tex., we have received specimens of a new Aspidiotus upon peach twigs, which we 



