264 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Octobcr, 



Why, he'd lay on the ground for an hour at a stretch 



And scratch in the dirt like a hen; 

 He'd scrape all the bark off the bushes and trees, 



And turn the stones over, and then 

 He'd peek under logs, or he'd pry into holes; 



I'm glad ther' ain't no more sech men ! 



My wife see a box in his bed-room, one day, 



Jest swarmin' with live caterpillars, 

 He fed 'em on leaves off of all kind of trees, 



The ellums and birches and willers; 

 And he'd got piles of boxes chock full to the top 



With crickets and bees and moth millers. 



I asked him, one time, what his business might be, 



Of course I fust made some apology — 

 He tried to explain, but sech awful big words ! 



Sort o' forren, outlandish and collegey, 

 'S near 's I can tell, 'stead of enterin' a trade. 



He was tryin' to jest enter mology. 



And Hannah, my wife, says she's heerd o' sech things; 



She guesses his brain warn't so meller; 

 There's a thing they call Nat'ral Histerry, she says, 



And, whatever the folks there may tell her, 

 Till it's settled she's wrong she'll jest hold that air man 



Was a Nat'ral Histerrical feller. 



The Marx Collection of Arachnida. — The eminent arachnologist, 

 Dr. George Marx, of Washington, D. C, died Jan. 3, 1895. His impor- 

 tant collection of Arachnida has been placed by his widow in charge of 

 the undersigned committee of the Entomological Society of Washington, 

 to be disposed of by sale. The collection is one of the most important 

 in existence. It contains more than one thousand species of Aranaeina 

 alone. Of this one thousand species, about five hundred are described 

 species from North America. These are described among 175 genera. 

 The families Theridiidae, Epeiridae and Theraphosidae are particularlj'- 

 well represented, and have been identified largely by some well-known 

 authority. The Theridiida? were in the hands of the late Count Keyser- 

 ling. and about thirty of his species have their types in this collection. 

 The Theraphosidae have been recently in the hands of Simon, of Paris, 

 while Dr. McCook has examined the Epeiridae. In addition to these 500 

 described American species there are about 200 species of European 

 spiders properly identified and labeled, and nearly 300 American species 

 which bear Dr. Marx's manuscript names. There is further a great mass 

 of material which has never been worked up. 



The species are, many of them, represented by many specimens. The 

 collection is contained in vials in Muller's fluid, and the vials are arranged 



1 



