62 



THE PRACTICAL ENTOMOLOGIST. 



great series, without remotely and indirectly affect- 

 ing the welfare of all the rest. 



To apply the above principles to the practical 

 question at issue. If it could be proved that in a 

 thousand different neighborhoods where no hogs 

 had run at large for ten years, the " White Grub" 

 was now very injurious and very abundant, and in 

 a thousand other different neigjiborhoods where 

 many hogs had run at large for ten years, no com- 

 plaints were made of the " White Grub," I should 

 say that the truth of my theory was proved. But 

 if a similar thing was shown only of a few neigh- 

 borhoods, I should infer nothing positive either one 

 way or the other; because the undue multiplication 

 of any Noxious Insect does not depend upon any 

 one cause exclusively, but upon a most complicated 

 variety of different causes, and we can only judge 

 of the effect of any one particular cause by taking 

 the average of a large number of cases. 



Besides the damage done by this insect in the 

 grub state, it occasionally, in certain years and in 

 certain localities, gathers in great swarms upon 

 fruit trees, chiefly cherry or plum, in the perfect 

 or winged state, so as to strip them more or less 

 completely of their leaves. Cases of this kind are 

 on record in the Eastern States, but I never heard 

 of any such in the Valley of the Mississippi, although 

 there as elsewhere the Perfect Beetle feeds upon 

 the leaves of trees. 

 EocK Island, III., April .3, 1S6B. 



HOW TO OBTAIN THE NAMES OF INSECTS. 



Those of our readers who desire to obtain the 

 scientific names of the insects of their locality, can 

 obtain them by sending duplicate specimens, each 

 species bearing a number corresponding with that of 

 the same species they retain in their collection, to 

 the Curator of the Entomological Society, 518 S. 

 Thirteenth street, Philadelphia, Pa., who will, in 

 return, send the proper names of the insects accord- 

 ing to tho numbers which the specimens bear. We 

 have received many letters frou; subscribers in dif- 

 ferent parts of the country, who, not having access 

 to the necessary Entomological works, are anxious 

 to obtain names for their insects; we have there- 

 fore made arrangements with the Curator of the 

 Society to have the insects that may be sent, pro- 

 perly determined. Always send dupUcate speci- 

 mens, as we cannot undertake to return them, and 

 in all cases the postage or express charges must be 

 pre-paid. 



In sending specimens through the Post-office, 

 they should be enclosed in a paste-board box, (a 

 gun-cap box, for instance) in order that they may 

 not be crushed in the mail-bags; but in sending in- 

 sects by express, the utmost care is necessary to in- 

 sure their safe carriage, especially with pinned spe- 

 cimens. These should be firmly secured in a stout 

 box, which box should be placed in a larger and 

 stouter one, with the space between the two boxes 

 filled in with cotton-wool, or some other soft and 

 buoyant material; in this way, if properly done, the 

 jarring occasioned by transportation will have little 

 or no effect upon the insects iu the inside box. 



The Cabinet of the Entomological Society con- 

 tains over 15,000 species of insects, and is the 

 largest collection of the kind in this country, which, 

 with its splendid Library of Entomological works, 

 give rare facilities for ascertaining the names of 

 insects of all kinds. And yet this collection is far 

 from being complete; there are thousands of insecta 

 in our country, especially in the Western and South- 

 ern States, that are not represented in the collec- 

 tion, and many as yet unknown to science. Will 

 not those of our readers who have the opportunity 

 to collect insects, send the Society a collection 

 made in their locality, in order that they may be 

 made known to science? The Society is very much 

 in want of insects from any of the Southern and 

 Western States. We have readers in Missouri, 

 Arkansas, Texas, Utah, Colorado, Dakota, Oregon 

 and California, and if they would collect and send 

 the Society a representation of their insect fauna, 

 they would prove most acceptable. In such cases, 

 the expenses of transportation will, of course, be 

 paid by the Society. 



Beetles, Wasps, Ichneumon-flies, Bugs and Leaf- 

 hoppers, should be preserved in bottles containing 

 good alcohol ; but Butterflies, Moths, hairy Bees, 

 two-winged Flies and Dragon-flies, should be care- 

 fully packed in between layers of soft paper or 

 cotton, sprinkling in the box a few crubs of cam- 

 phor to preserve th,em from mites. Butterflies and 

 moths should be handled very carefully, and the 

 wings should not be touched with the fingers, as 

 the scales thereon are easily rubbed off, and the 

 specimen spoiled. 



When the alcohol becomes too much discolored 

 by the insects, it should be poured off and fresh 

 spirits added. 



Care should be taken in packing the specimens 

 so as to carry safely in transportation. The name 

 of the locality in which the insects were collected 

 should be pasted on the bottle or box containing 

 them, and any information of their habits will be 

 both useful and interesting. 



Address all packages for the Society as follows : 

 Entomological Society, No. 518 ;S'. Thirteenth 

 Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 



TRICHINA SFIEALIS. 



BY BEXJ. D. WALSH, M. A. 



As many persons are now afl3icted by a very 

 causeless panic as to the danger of eating Trichi- 

 nous Pork, and as, on the other hand, others deny 

 the existence of any such danger under any circum- 

 stances, I propose to state briefly such fiicts bear- 

 ing upon this subject as have been abundantly 

 proved by the best scientific evidence. 



1st. Trichina spiralis is a minute worm, scarcely 

 y'j inch long, sometimes found in enormous num- 

 bers in the flesh of the hog, and generally enveloped 

 in a hard shell. Out of 1394 hogs microscopically 

 examined at Chicago by a competent .scientific cora- 

 niittoc, as many as twenty-eight, or about one in 

 forty-eight, were found to be thus affected in a 

 greater or less degree. In Germany, where the 



