360 



SClhlNCh 



Vol. XXll. No. 069 



Contopus barealis ; A. O. U. 450. Pines and fruit 

 trees. Food, insects. Nest in fork of pine tree. Eggs 

 creamy with brown spots. 



Corvus corax ; A O. U. 48G. Inaccessible cliffs. Food, 

 birds, mammals and grains. Nest in very taL tree. Eggs 

 light green, clouded with brown. 



Plectrophanes nivalis ; A. O. U. 534. Mountains. Nest 

 in crevice of rock. Food insects in summer, seeds in 

 winter. Eggs so varied in marking as to be indescrib- 

 able. 



Ammodromus condacutus ; A. 0. U. 549. Salt marshes. 

 Food, shell fish and small crabs. Nest in grass. Eggs 

 bluish white with brown spots. 



Ammodromus maritimus ; A. O. U. 550. Coast Nest 

 on ground. Eggs grayish-white with brown spots. 

 Food, shell fish. 



Petrochelidod lunifrons ; A O. U. 612 Juttingeaves. 

 Food, insects. Eggs white with reddish-brown spots. 



Vireo jjheladelphicus ; A. 0. U. 626. Food, insects. 

 Did not see nest or eggs. 



Sitta canadensis ; A. 0. U. 728. Pine forests. Food, 

 seed of pine tree and larviE of insects. Nest in stump. 

 Eggs bluish-white, with light red spots. 



A NEW MITE INFECTING MUSHROOMS. 



BY HERBERT OSBORN, AMES, lA. 



Some time since I received from Professor J. A. Lint- 

 ner specimens of a mite which had been found infesting 

 mushrooms quite seriously, and from its habits and the 

 statements concerning its numbers it is likely to prove a 

 very important pest of this crop. From the literature 

 which is available it does not appear to be described and 

 is certainly different from the species described as infest- 

 ing mushrooms in Europe. It approaches more nearly 

 to the Tyroglyphus phylloxerce of Riley but is quite dif- 

 ferent in many structural details. Since it is likely to 

 prove of importance it seems desirable to describe it, 

 even though it may possibly prove identical with some 

 of the described European forms. 



Tyroglyphus linfneri, n. sp. 

 dorsal view, b, ventral view, c, tarsus, much enla 

 in circle to right. 



From nature, by H, Osborn. 



•ged; length shown 



Tyroglyphus lintneri, n. sp. — The mandibles are large, 

 chelate, strongly toothed, the palpi terminating with a 

 strong hook, the tarsi hooked with no sucker visible, tht. 

 last segment long, slender, spiny at tip and on the two 

 anterior pairs bearing a clavate appendage. The hairs 

 are very long, those on the posterior part of the body equal 

 to or greater than the length of the body and their origin 

 marked by chitinous rings, six located on the posterior 



portion of the anterior division of the body and standing 

 quite erect, ten on the posterior portion, two at anterior 

 angles, two behind the middle and others near the margin 

 on the posterior third of the body, abdominal suckers 

 four, located between the abdominal legs. 



This species differs from T. phijHoxerae Riley, particu- 

 larly in the greater length of tarsal joints, greater curva- 

 ture of tarsal claw and the much greater length of the 

 hairs, those at the end of the abdomen being as long 

 or longer than the body, while the phylloorerae Riley de- 

 scribes asabotit one-third the diameter of the body. It is 

 also larger than specimens I have determined as phyl- 

 loxeras, and the second pair of legs is further back on 

 the body than shown in Riley's figure. 



I have named it in honor of Dr. Lintner, who has 

 taken a most lively interest in the various forms of 

 acaridea, besides having made many valuable observa- 

 tions on these and other important insects. 



THE ARCTIC CUEEENT IN THE ESTUAEY OF THE 

 ST. LAWRENCE. 



BY ANDREW T. DBUMMOND, MONTKEAL, CANADA. 



The great Arctic Current of northeastern America takes 

 its rise in Baffin's Bay and, after skirting with its broad 

 surface the coasts of Labrador and Newfoundland, ap- 

 pears to largely lose itself as a cold surface current, as it 

 impinges on, and, in part, parallels, the Gulf Stream. 

 Every traveller to America by the St. Lawrence route has 

 his attention drawn forcibly to it by the coldness of both 

 the atmosphere and the water, and by the presence of 

 the picturesque icebergs, which, though floating slowly 

 southward with the current, suggest to the imagination a 

 broad submerged mountain chain with the glaciered top- 

 most peaks and snow-clad pinnacles alone left to view. 



As the great steamship passes inward to the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence by the Straits of Belle Isle, the traveller is 

 equally struck with the fact that although the current ap- 

 pears to have been crossed, huge bergs are still met with, 

 floating in a new direction toward Anticosti. The expla- 

 nation is that a branch of this Arctic or Labrador Current 

 finds its way through the Straits of Belle Isle and past 

 Anticosti to the River St. Lawrence, up the estuary of 

 which it ascends on the northerly side toward Quebec. 

 On the way it meets with and is tempered by the warmer 

 waters coming from the Great Lakes above, as they pass 

 outward to the sea, and returns on the south side of the 

 estuary as a modified current, which, after skirting the 

 Gaspe Peninsula, is finally lost in the Gulf of St. Law- 

 rence. This is the substance of our present knowledge. 



The temperature of the water in the estuary of the river 

 becomes interesting as bearing on the existence of this 

 current. During the early part of August, last, the op- 

 portunity presented itself at Murray Bay, on the north 

 shore, of obtaining some surface and bottom tempera- 

 tures. The instruments used were Negretti and Zambra's 

 reference and deejDsea thermometers. The conditions 

 on the 5th of August, when the following readings at 

 different points were taken, were those of calm air, clear 

 sky, and fairly strong sun; the time, 8 A. M. to 8:30 A. 

 M., and the position about a mile and a half off Cap a 

 I'Aigle, a jutting headland four miles below Murray Bay 

 village: 



Air 59°F- 



W ater on surface 464 ° 



Water at 1 7 fathoms .... 



Water at iS^fathoms. ... 3SJ ° 

 Water atji fathoms. ... , 



46i ° F. 



38*' 



59J°F- 

 46i° 



