255 



and the poison sacs or cells. Till these are shown or till a spider is seen to bite a per- 

 son, people will be incredulous.— [Dr. Wm. P. T. Coal, Meadows, 111., Septembers, 

 1889. 



Second letter.— This morning my sister thought she was bitten by a spider 

 under the sleeve near the wrist and almost immediately in two or three places be- 

 tween that and the shoulder. She crushed the insect with her hand, and on remov- 

 ing the clothes found the fragments which I send inclosed. If you can identify it I 

 would like to know what it is. The bites or stings caused a slight pain and swell- 

 ing that were gone in a few hours. — [Dr. Wm. P. T. Coal, Meadows, 111., January 1, 

 1890. 



Reply. — Your letter of January 1 and the accompany fragments of a spider which 

 is supposed to have bitten your sister have been received. The case is an interest- 

 ing one and it is extremely unfortunate that the fragments will not enable a defi- 

 nite determination of the species, as the evidence is strong that the bite was made by 

 this creature. Dr. Marx, our authority on spiders, states that the fragments show 

 that the spider belonged to the family Drassidce, and perhaps to the genus Pythonissa, 

 the species of which live under stones but may also be found in outhouses. I am 

 very much obliged to you for sending this specimen, and hope that if a similar case 

 ever comes under your observation you will communicate it. — [January 7, 1890.] 



GENERAL NOTES. 



INSECTS AFFECTINa SALSIFY. 



Owing, possibly, to the fact that this vegetable is grown only in our 

 gardens, and to a very limited extent, its insect enemies seem to have 

 been but little studied. Mr. John Martin (10th Rep. St. Ent. 111., p. 139), 

 gives it as one of the food plants of the larvae of Prodenia lineatella ; but 

 Mr. Martin seems to have provided it as food for the caterpillars while 

 they were in confinement, they not seeking it from motives of choice; 

 but this is the only species we have noticed on record as depredating 

 upon it. 



August 16 of the present year (1889), we found the foliage of these 

 plants being eaten by larvae, which, as they all fed from within leaves 

 whose edges they had drawn together to form a hollow tube, appeared 

 to belong to the same species. In some of these tubes small chrysalids 

 were also found. 



A quantity of infested leaves were gathered and placed in a breeding 

 cage, in which there appeared on August 24 adults of a species of 

 Pccdisca, followed in a few days by other moths belonging to this species, 

 Dickelia sulfureana and Lophoderus triferana. A number of larvae 

 were attacked by parasites, and on September 1 considerable num- 

 bers of a species of Limneria appeared. 



While searching for the larvte of the preceding a caterpillar of Spi- 

 losoma virginiea was observed leisurely devouring the foliage of this 

 plant, and, also, adults and pupte of Lygus pratensis were noted in 

 abundance among the tender leaves, some of them extracting the juices 

 therefrom. 



