204 



ing a special feature. It is to be issued in 12 parts, eacb containing 8 

 plates and about 144 pages of text. The price is $5 per part. 



Dr. Packard's Entomology for Beginners appeared in September. 

 It is a condensed treatise of about 350 images with nearly 300 figures, 

 and is entitled "Entomology for Beginners, for the use of young folks, 

 fruit-growers, farmers, and gardeners, by A. S. Packard, M. D., Ph. 

 D., New York, Henry Holt & Co., 1888." The price is $1.75. 



A CONTRIBUTION TO THE LITERATURE OF FATAL SPIDER BITES. 



The evidence for and against the possibility of a fatal bite from any 

 of our common spiders is sufficiently confusing. We have, on the one 

 hand, a wide spread impression among people at large that such fatal 

 bites are frequent and a large number of poorly-authenticated news- 

 paper records of cases. On the other hand, we have a general incredul- 



FiG. i6.—Latrodecti(8 mactans: a, adult female; b, 

 rietles, upper side; h, under side of </ ,■ i, adult male, 

 times, b four times (original). 



c, d, e,f, g, abdomen of different stages and va- 

 f't e, f. g, h, and i enlarged twice, c and d three 



ity among entomologists and arachnologists, who require absolute proof 

 before accepting what seems probably untrue, judged from the statements 

 of naturalists who have allowed themselves to be bitten without bad re- 

 sults, not only by many different spiders, but by the very species said 

 to be venomous. 



