470 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Dec., ’08 
I remember as terrorizing the exemplars of the simple life, 
was the “devil’s darning needle,” “snake feeder or snake doc- 
tor,’ as it is called hereabouts. We are all familiar with the 
story that this singular insect is capable of sewing one’s ears 
up, for what purpose has never been divulged, which leaves 
us to assume that it was for “pure deviltry.” Of course, no 
credence is placed in this absurd story at the present day by 
“grown ups,’ but the children in some parts of the country 
still cling to the fallacy. 
One of the peculiar local myths with which we were fa- 
miliar in boyhood, was that of the wooden horse, a local name 
for the walking stick insects. Its bite was said to be peculiarly 
fatal, one could not expect to live long enough to murmur even 
a short prayer if bitten by one of these creatures; you simply 
turned up your toes and died instanter. It is inconceivable 
that this sluggish, fragile creature could ever harm a human 
being, as it is incapable of biting anything but leaves, which 
form its ordinary food. 
Another fallacy more widespread and popular than the last 
is the one regarding the ability of the 17 year Cicada to in- 
flict a poisonous bite. This fable will not down. In this re- 
spect it reminds us of the old line in our copy book, “Truth 
crushed to earth shall rise again.” It is counterfeit, however, ° 
and there is not a particle of truth in the yarn. There existed 
for some years a spirited discussion among entomologists, as 
to whether or not the cicada ever made any use whatever of 
its formidable beak, but the question was at last settled by 
Prof. Quaintance of Washington, who discovered a cicada in 
the act of feeding, with its beak in the sap wood of a tree. 
He killed it in situ and making a section thereof, proved with 
the help of a microscope, the facts above mentioned. 
It seems strange to me that in spite of the tendency of the 
people at large to attribute poisonous qualities to harmless in- 
sects, of many kinds, there should exist in considerable numbers 
in practically all parts of the country, insects that are capable of 
inflicting painful bites, but of which one seldom hears except 
through scientific publications, I+refer especially to the Hem- 
