26 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS [Jan., '19 



A Change of Names (Coleoptera). 



Thanks to the courtesy of Mr. C. W. Leng, my attention has been 

 called to a number of pre-occupied names used by me in recent 

 descriptive work. These, with the new names now proposed, are as 

 follows : 

 For Bledius dissimilis Fall (Trans. Am. Ent. Soc. 1910, p. 107) 



Substitute B. philadclphicus new name. 

 For Bledius fratcllus Fall (loc. cit. p. 112) 



Substitute B. transitus new name. 

 For Pachybrachys instabilis Fall (Trans. Am. Ent. Soc. 1915, p. 471) 



Substitute P. hector new name. 



H. C. Fai,l, Tyngsboro, Massachusetts. 



Note on the Vinegarone (Arach., Pedipalpi). 



Professor Comstock, in his Spider Book, concerning the giant whip- 

 tail scorpion (Mastigoproctus giganteus), writes, "In some parts of 

 the South they bear the local name grampus and are greatly feared on 

 account of their supposed venomous powers; but it is probable that 

 there is no foundation for this fear; for although it has been stated 

 often that their bites are poisonous, I can find no direct evidence that 

 this is true, and no poison glands have been found in this order." 



Many years ago, when the late Dr. George Marx was connected with 

 the United States Department of Agriculture, he kept one or more 

 specimens of this dangerous looking creature in a glass jar in the labo- 

 ratory of the Division of Entomology and made a careful study of its 

 possibility for harm, but both experimentally and by dissection failed 

 to find any basis for the common superstition. For a long time it was 

 a standing joke in the Division of Entomology to test the nerves of 

 occasional visitors by inviting them to handle one of these specimens. 

 I remember that no less a person than that excellent entomologist, 

 John B. Smith, refused absolutely to touch one, while those of us who 

 knew handled them with impunity. 



As is well known, the name vinegarone in the southern United States 

 was originally given by French settlers from the French West Indies, 

 and arose from the vinegar-like, intensely acid secretion which the 

 whip-tail scorpion exudes when approached. 



An interesting story was told me the other night at the Biological 

 Society of Washington by General T. E. Wilcox, to the effect that in 

 1877 at Camp Supply, Indian Territory, a blacksmith crushed a znne- 

 garone on his upper left breast. Blisters resulted which extended over 

 the whole breast, and the glands were involved to some extent. He 

 stayed away from work for a week, and General Wilcox, who at that 

 time was a surgeon in the Army, treated him. Of course there was no 

 sting, and the blisters resulted simply from the acid secretion. — L. O. 

 Howard. U. S. Bureau of Entomology, Washington, D. C. 



