V5S 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XXI. No. 529 



generic appellation antedates Daudin's Ophisauriis. of the type 

 which is our glass-snake, 0. ventralis. Boulenger regards both 

 :species as congeneric, and if he respects the law of priority he 

 will have to call the latter Sheltopusih ventralis. It is hardly 

 probable, however, that any American herpetologist will follow 

 him in jslacing the Eurasiatic species with two posterior legs in 

 the same genus as the totally legless North American species. 



According to the above there can be no doubt but that tbe 

 generic name for the CJUrotes must stand as Bipes, and the family 

 name will, accordingly, be BipiedidcB. The syjionomy of the 

 genus is as follows: — 



Bipes Latreille. 



XSOI.— Bipes Latreille, Hi.-^t. Nat. Kept , II., p. 90 (type B. 

 <:anaUculn,tus). 



1804. — Microdipius Hermann, Obs. Zool , p. 289 (same type). 



\S\\.—Bimrinus Oppel, Ord. Rept., p. 45 (same type). 



1817. — Ghirotes CuviER, Regne Anim., 1st ed., II., p. 57 (same 

 type). 



Species: Bipes c'tnaliculaUis Bonnaterre. 



THE RA.VAGES OF BOOK WORMS. 



At a meeting of the Massachusetts Historical Society, held 

 Feb. 9, 1893, Dr. Samuel A. Green, after showing two volumes 

 that had been completely riddled by the ravages of insects, as 

 well as some specimens of the animals in various stages, made 

 the following remarks: — 



For a long period of years I have been looking for living 

 specimens of the so called " book-worm," of whicn traces are 

 occasionally found in old volumes; and I was expecting to find 

 an invertebrate animal of the class of annelides. In this library 

 at the present time there are books perforated with clean-cut 

 holes opening into sinuous cavities, which usually run up the 

 back of the volumes, and sometimes perforate the leather covers 

 and the body of the book; but I have never detected the live cul- 

 prit that does the mischief. For the most part the injury is 

 confined to such as are bound in leather, and the ravages of the 

 insect appear to depend on its hunger. The external orifices 

 look like so many shot-holes, but the channels are anything but 

 straight. From a long examination of the subject I am inclined 

 to think that all the damage was done before the library came to 

 this site in the spring of 1833. At all events, there is no reason 

 to suppose that any of the mischief has been caused during the 

 last fifty years. Perhaps the furnace heat dries up the moisture 

 which i^ a requisite condition for the life and propagation of the 

 little animal. 



Nearly two years ago I received a parcel of books from 

 Florida, of which some were infested with vermin, and more or 

 less perforated in the manner I have described. It occurred to 

 me that they would make a good breeding-farm and experiment 

 station for learning the habits of the insect; and I accordingly 

 sent several of the volumes to my friend Mr. Samuel Garman, 

 who is connected with the Mueeum of Comparative Zoology at 

 Cambridge, for his care and observation. From him I learn that 

 the principal offender is an animal known popularly as the Buf- 

 falo Bug, though he is helped in his work by kindred spirits, 

 not allied to him according to the rules of natural history. Mr. 

 Garman's letter gives the result of his labors so fully as to leave 

 nothing to be desired, and is as follows: — 



Museum op Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, Mass. , 

 Feb. 7, 1893. 

 Dr. Samuel A. Green, Boston, Mass. 



Sir:— The infested books sent for examination to this Museum, 

 thi'ough the kindness of Mr. George E. Littlefleld, were received 

 July 15,1891. They were inspected and, containing individuals of 

 a couple of species of living insects, were at once enclosed in glass 

 for further developments. A year afterward live specimens of 

 both kinds were still at work. Besides those that reached us 

 alive, a third species had left traces of former presence in a 

 number of empty egg-cases. 



Five of the volumes were bound in cloth. On these the princi- 

 pal damage appeared at the edges, which were eaten away and 



disfigured hy large burrows extending inward. Two volumes 

 were bound in leather. The edges of these were not so much 

 disturbed; but numerous perforations, somewhat like shot-holes 

 externally, passed through the leather, enlarging and ramifying 

 in the interior. As if made by smaller insects, the sides of these 

 holes were neater and cleaner cuttings than those in the burrows 

 on the edges of the other volumes. 



The insects were all identified as well-known enemies of libra- 

 ries, cabinets, and wardrobes. One of them is a species of what 

 are commonly designated "fish bugs," "silver fish," "bristle 

 tails," etc. By entomologists they are called Lepisma ; the spe- 

 cies in hand is jirobably Lepisma saccharina. It is a small, 

 elongate, silvery, very active creature, frequently discovered 

 under objects, or between the leaves of books, whence it escapes 

 by its extraordinary quickness of movement. Paste and the siz- 

 ing or enamel of some kinds of paper are very attractive to it. 

 In some cases it eats off the entire surface of the sheet, including 

 the ink, without making perforations; in otheis the leaves are 

 completely destroyed. The last specimen of this insect in these 

 books was killed Feb. 5, 1893, which proves the species to be suf- 

 ficiently at home in this latitude. 



The second of the three is one of the " Buffalo Bugs," or 

 " Carpet Bugs," socalled ; not really bugs, but beetles. The spe- 

 cies before us \s the Anthreniis variits of scientists, very common 

 in Boston and Cambridge, as in other portions of the temperate 

 regions and the tropics. Very likely the "shot-holes" in the 

 leather-bound volumes are of its making, though it may have 

 been aided in the deeper and larger chambers by one or both of 

 the others. The damage done by this insect in the house, mu- 

 seum, and library is too ivell known to call for further comment. 

 Living individuals were taken from the books nearly a year after 

 they were isolated. 



The third species had disappeared before the arrival of the 

 books, leaving only its burrows, excrement, and empty egg-cases, 

 which, however, leave no doubt of the identity of the animal 

 with one of the cockroaches, possibly the species Blaita Austral- 

 aside. The cases agree in size with those of Blatta Americana, 

 but have thirteen impressions on each side, as if the number of 

 eggs were twenty- six. The ravages of the cockroaches are greatest 

 in the tropics, but some of the species range through the tem- 

 perate zones and even northward. An extract from Westwood 

 and Drury will serve to indicate the character of their work: — 



"They devour all kinds of victuals, dressed and undressed, 

 and damage all sorts of clothing, leather, books, paper, etc., which, 

 if they do not destroy, at least they soil, as they frequently de- 

 posit a drop of their excrement where they settle. They swarm 

 by myriads in old houses, making every part filthy beyond de- 

 scription. They have also the power of making a noise like a 

 sharp knocking with the knuckle upon the wainscoting; Blatta 

 gigantea being thence known to the West Indies by the name of 

 drummer; and this they keep up, replying to each other, through- 

 out the night; moreover, they attack sleeping persons, and will 

 even eat the extremities of the dead. ' ' 



This quotation makes it appear that authors as well as books 

 are endangered by this outlaw. With energies exclusively 

 turned against properly selected examples of both, what a world 

 of good it might do mankind! The discrimination lacking, the 

 insect must be treated as a common enemy. As a bane for 

 " silver fish " and cockroaches, pyrethrum insect powder is said 

 to be effectual. For a number of years I have used, on lep- 

 isma and roach, a mixture containing phosphorus, " The Infal- 

 lible Water Bug and Roach Exterminator," made by Barnard 

 & Co., 7 Temple Place, Boston, and, without other interest in 

 advertising the compound, have found it entirely satisfactory in 

 its effects. Bisulphide carbon, evaporated in closed boxes or 

 cases containing the infested articles, is used to do away with the 

 " Buffalo Bugs." Very respectfully youx's, 



Samuel Garman. 



JIr. Frederick Vernon Coville has been appointed botanist 

 to the Department of Agriculture in place of Dr. George Vasey, 

 deceased. Mr. Coville has been for some years past one of Dr. 

 Vasey's assistants. 



