261 



SimuUum meridionale), which had issued and were flying around at that 

 date. January 4 he sent us other specimens of the Buffalo Gnat {S. 

 pecuanun). January 6 Mr. P. P. Turner, of this city, brought us a living 

 imago of the Fall Web-worm {Hyphantria cunea), which had recently 

 issued from the cocoon. If this premature issuing of the latt(W species 

 is at all general and we have subsequent severe weather the shade trees 

 of Washington will not, in all probability, suffer the coming summer 

 from Web- worms at least. 



HONEY BEES AND ARSENICALS USED AS SPRAYS. 



Mr. H. O. Kruschke, of Juneau County, Wisconsin, in the American 

 Garden for January, 1890, p. 57, warns prospective sprayers that the 

 first man caught applying arsenic to trees in full bloom will be prose- 

 cuted — reasoning that the spraying of such trees will result in the stor- 

 age by the bees of poisoned honey, the consumption of which will be 

 dangerous. In Vol. II, p. 84, of Insect Life, the effect of arsenical 

 insecticides on the honey-bee is briefly discussed, and a well-authenti- 

 cated case is given which seems to show that such spraying is not at- 

 tended with ill results either to the bees or the honey. The prevailing 

 belief is, however, the other way, and cases are on record where serious 

 destruction of bees has resulted from spraying. In the case of the 

 Apple, particularly, the application should not be made until the bloom 

 has begun to fall, when no injury will be likelj^ to result. It was be- 

 cause of the possibility of danger that in the beginning we were very 

 slow to recommend the wholesale spraying of orchards with the arseni- 

 cal mixtures, but experience has shown here, as in other cases, judicious 

 and cautious use is attended only with benefit, and that the possible 

 harm is reduced to such a minimum as to almost justify its being left 

 out of consideration. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



December 5, 1889. (Fifty-seventh regular meeting.) — The corresponding secretary 

 reported additions to the library. 



Professor Riley presented a communication on the ovipositors of Diptera in which 

 he reviewed the general subject of piercing ovipositors in the ditfereut orders of in- 

 sects, stating that iu the order Diptera they were very rare, and calling attention to the 

 fact that iu Trypeta and some allied forms the ovipositor is capable of i^iercing, and 

 that in Trypcta ponwnella and in T. higens he had found them to be readily capable of 

 piercing the skins of apples and oranges respectively. 



Professor Riley also presented a note upon the genus Lesiophonus, showing that 

 careful studies Vv'hich he had made indicated that Mr. Skuse, of Australia, is correct 

 in considering L. monophlmhi and L. iceryw as distinct species, and not identical as 

 supposed by Dr. Williston. 



Professor Riley further presented a note on dipterous insects passed from the rectum 



of man, reviewing the older instances, and mentioneu particularly the sending of 



Eristalis dimidiatus iu the larva state by Dr. J. W. Compton, of Evansville, Ind., who 



stated that they were passed from the bowels of a young woman. He also mentioned 



15035— Kos. 7 and 8 5 ^ 



