26 



THE LAlsICASTER FARMER 



[February, 



longer, or as it is more exposed to bad weather 

 and hard treatment, nature makes it stronger 

 to resist what it has to encounter, while the 

 part which is next the skin remains Sne to 

 give greater warmth. Such wool, even when 

 combed and spun into yarn, never lies smooth 

 and evenly as true-bred wool, and is conse- 

 quently not of as much value. There is an- 

 other sort of wool which farmers do not seem 

 to understand, and writers on the subject 

 often ignore, but which is found more or less 

 on all cross-bred sheep and on sheep which are 

 too much exposed and fed on hilly districts. 

 This is known as "kemp, " or dead hairs. 

 These kemps vary in length and coarseness ac- 

 cording to the breed of sheep. In white 

 Highland they are about two inches long and 

 very tliick ; in cross-bred Australian they are 

 very short. In the former they cover the 

 under sine of the fleece ; in the latter they are 

 so few as to not be of any importance. They 

 are, however, all alike in this, that they are a 

 brilliant shining white (except on sheep with 

 grey wool, when they may be black), and they 

 will not dye the same color as the rest of the 

 wool. They consequently depreciate the value 

 of the wool very greatly, making it only suit- 

 able for low goods. — London Live-Stock Jour- 

 nal. 



THE RED ANT. 

 Formiea rufa is a large red ant, very com- 

 mon in England and in Eui-ope, where its 

 mounds are often conspicuous objects in the 

 fields. A variety of the same species occurs 

 upon the Western plains, where it extends 

 even to the elevation of Leadville, 11,300 feet 

 above the sea. The correspondence of Dr. II. 

 C. McCook with Dr. Puy, of Dakota has 

 proved the presence of this species in that Ter- 

 ritory, and examination of the mounds shows 

 some peculiarities of construction. The en- 

 tire mound is formed of a mixture of small 

 twigs and earth, and in its centre is a ball of 

 twigs about eight inches in diameter, doubt- 

 less serving as a nursery for the eggs and 

 larvse. The nursing and protection of the 

 young is the centre upon which hinges the 

 whole economy of a formicary (or ant city). 

 In the mounds of some other ants there are 

 many series of galleries, and the young are re- 

 moved to greater depths when the frosts are 

 severe. In the present case the material em- 

 ployed is a protection against frost, but the 

 ants themselves were found to have retired to 

 greater depths. Six or seven galleries leading 

 downward from the nursery were followed to 

 a depth of four and a hall feet without reach- 

 ing their termination. Although these ants 

 are thus well able to protect themselves from 

 the severe weather of the region they inhabit, 

 the material employed renders them peculiar- 

 ly liable to destruction by the prairie fires, 

 which burn out the vegetable matter of the 

 mounds and make holes large enough to hold 

 a bushel basket. A tall, succulent species of 

 grass, which usually flourishes around the 

 edge of the clearing made by the ants, often 

 protects them from fires. 



A WEB-SPINNING INSECT. 

 Dr. H. C. McCook recently reported to the 

 Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences the 

 discovery upon the Wissahickon of an exam- 

 ple of the curious web-spinaing insect, Psocxis 



country. The Fsocus is the only insect that 

 is known to spin a web while in the imago or 

 perfect stage, and is exceedingly interesting 

 as exhibiting in the image a habit which is 

 common among larval insects (in making 

 their cocoons) and general among the related 

 spiders. The fact tliat the order of insects, 

 Neuroptora, to which Psociis belongs, is the 

 lowest insect order, was mentioned by the 

 speaker. The writer of this ventures to add 

 that all evolutionists will believe that the 

 web-spinning habits of this genus of insects, of 

 the larval butterfly, or moth, and of the 

 spiders, point backward to a remote common 

 ancestor. There is enough in common be- 

 tween insect sand spiders, excluding this habit, 

 to lead students of morphology and embry- 

 ology to the belief that the two classes are de- 

 scended from the same original stock. 



WHERE DO HOUSEFLXESCOME FROM.' 



It is a prevalent idea that houseflies es- 

 pecially abound in the neighborhood of stables, 

 and it has often been stated that the housefly 

 lays its eggs in the compost of such places. 

 Exact observations seem, however, to be 

 scarce, and it is, therefore, interesting to 

 know that Dr. Joseph Leidy has put on record 

 that he observed the swarming of these pests 

 from the compost heap of a stable, and more- 

 over, found that the flies were infested with a 

 brown mite. 



THE CANKER WORM. 



Those who have orchards in localities 

 where the canker worm has made its appear- 

 ance in years past, should improve the first 

 good weather after the snow is gone to protect 

 their trees. If "Tree Protectors," have al- 

 ready been used, a careful examination 

 should be made to see that there is no open 

 cavities between the protector and the tree, 

 where the grub can find a passage-way up the 

 tree ; if any are found, they should be well 

 filled up. The troughs should be well cleaned 

 out and examined to ascertain if any defect 

 exists, if not, they should be filled with oil. 

 If the protectors are well put on, and properly 

 filled with oil, but little more is necessary, ex- 

 cept to see that the troughs are kept filled 

 with oil, and that during the best of the 

 season enough grubs do not get in to form a 

 bridge over which the grubs may pass. 



If no protectors have been put on and the 

 orchardist feels that he cannot aflbrd to buy 

 them, some other means should be used to 

 protect the trees, which does not require so 

 large an outlay of money. Tarred paper on 

 the trunk, kept covered with some sticky 

 substance is a protection which requires but 

 little outlay of money, but considerable time 

 which to some would be of little value, while 

 to others would be more than the cost of 

 patent protectors. Each orchardist must de- 

 cide for himself what is best for his particu- 

 lar interest. If he decides to use the tarred 

 paper he should remove all rough bark from 

 the trunk of the tree where the paper is to be 

 placed, that it may set close to tlie tree, to 

 prevent the grubs from passing up between 

 the paper and the tree. Tne strips of paper 

 should be ten or twelve inches wide, and may 

 be tacked on the tree with tacks that have 

 large heads, or tied with two strings, one at 

 punctatus, not before known to occur in this 



the top and the other at the bottom of the 

 paper. " Tree Ink" is largely used to cover 

 the paper with, but some insist that there are 

 much better substances, such as the residuum 

 of kerosene, or a preparation made of rosin 

 and linseed oil, four parts of the former to one 

 of the latter, slightly varying in proportions 

 as the weather is cold or warm. Whatever 

 substances are used should be renewed as 

 often as they harden so the grub can pass 

 over. 



The orchard should be examined every day 

 after the ground begins to thaw until the 

 buds begin to break, and as often as necessary, 

 the paper should be covered with fresh ma- 

 terial ; sometimes the neglect of a single day 

 will permit grubs enough to pass up to seri- 

 ously injure the crop of fruit. 



SOME HABITS OF SPIDERS, 



Spiders are highly carnivorous creatures, 

 yet Mr. Meehan recently observed some of 

 these insects sucking grape-juice, and Dr. 

 McCJook noted a couple of phalangiums (har- 

 vestmeu. Daddy Long Legs) feeding upon the 

 juices of a pear. Such a variation from the 

 usual habit has been observed even in mosqui- 

 toes, which have by Mr. McCook been seen 

 to suck the sweet juices of plants. The need 

 of liquid in some form may be the occasion 

 of the habit. Rev. Dr. McCook recently ex- 

 hibited to the Philadelphia Academy of 

 Natural Sciences a perfect example of the 

 architectural skill of Attics opifex, a California 

 spider. The nest, which was of an irregular 

 oval form, about two inches long by one inch 

 broad, and contained its owner, had been for- 

 tunately so placed on a branch of a species of 

 Artemisia, or sage brush, that it was preserv- 

 ed intact. The leaves of this plant are very 

 small, and shrink but little in drying, a cir- 

 cumstance which preserved the nest placed' 

 among them from the destruction wrought 

 upon the nests of kindred species in Pennsyl-- 

 vania by the shrinkage of the leaves to which' 

 they are attached. Attics opifex does not' 

 weave an orb web, but belongs to a tribe of' 

 spiders known as saltigrades or hunting spi-' 

 ders. The nest is a domicile for its owner, 

 and contains, attached to one of its sides, a 

 double-convex cocoon filled with eggs. Some 

 young spiders which had escaped from this 

 were about an eighth of an inch long, and re- 

 sembled their mother, but were less gray. 

 The example exhibited was composed of 

 thickly-woven sheeted silk, and surrounded 

 with a maze of fine silken lines. A circular 

 hole at the bottom serves for entrance and 

 exit. 



A PECULIAR FISH. 



Some of the readers of Tlie Record may re- 

 collect that, several months past, mention 

 was made of a singular elongated fish with a 

 mouth which, compared with the body, may 

 be truly called enormous. The fish was 

 dredged off the coast of Morocco by the 

 French exploring vessel Le Travailleur, and 

 was named by Vailiant Eurypharynx pele- 

 canoides. The pelican part of this name al- 

 luded to the pouch between the long jaws, 

 which were produced backward, so that the 

 distance from their posterior end to the tip of 

 the snout was about three and a half times the 

 length of the skull. 



