November 15, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



in 



fairly intelligent young people, living next to 

 the ground upon a plantation in middle Ten- 

 nessee. 



Now as to hellgramites — the name may not 

 properly apply to the white grubs, or rather, 

 grayish-white ones, which were the choicest of 

 all bait. But local fishermen called them so, 

 and accepted it as a matter of fact that they 

 were larvse of the dragon-fly. Since I was set- 

 ting down things actually true of a certain 

 limited scope, not discoursing, ex cathedra, upon 

 entomology, I felt justified in putting down the 

 local name — with no thought of Use majestS 

 against the hellgramite and his adherents. I 

 thought if my work was to have the value of 

 verity I must make it square with what I knew, 

 rather than the word, the latest word, of science. 

 I fancy if explorers — say Stanley or Baldwin — 

 came out of strange places, recording that the 

 popular beliefs there were consonant with the 

 newest discoveries, their work would have less 

 worth and gain less currency. However, that 

 has nothing to do with this particular case. 

 Explorers are fallible persons — almost as fal- 

 lible as myself. The only infallibles are those 

 aggrieved persons who are ^Iways trying their 

 cases in the newspapers. 



Wherefore it is with something of amaze- 

 ment that I read Mr. Smith's positive assertion : 

 ' ' Pithy stems are rarely used by locusts, if at 

 all, and dying twigs are never attacked." 

 Will he kindly tell me, if pithy stems are never 

 used, what sort are? No twig or stalk within 

 my knowledge is, in its early stages of growth, 

 without pith. In woody plants, after the wood 

 ripens the pith becomes a fine line, and as the 

 twig develops into a bough, wellnigh invisible. 

 But assuredly if there is a deciduous tree whose 

 new growth is not, while new, pithy, I have 

 never seen nor heard of it. And at the risk of 

 seeming more than ever contumacious, I repeat 

 that some locusts — Tennessee locusts — did 

 choose dying twigs to lay their eggs in — I watched 

 them do it through many a summer hour, in 

 the big oak whose bough almost touched my 

 upstairs window. The twigs were of new wood 

 — the last spring's growth — but yellowing, and 

 beginning to wither. I do not recall ever see- 

 ing a sound twig stung by the ovipositor. The 

 locust, or rather the female locust, has two fine 



saws, lying either side the ovipositor. With 

 these saws she scratches the bark before depos- 

 iting the egg. As to Betty -bugs three inches 

 long — they are facts, not fiction. A Mississippi 

 reader has just written, promising to send me 

 one of them next season. He adds the interest- 

 ing information that when one of the big 

 Bettys falls upside down, one can see upon its 

 under side a number of parasites. Regarding 

 the June bug's identity, that was a matter of 

 countryside belief, backed with pretty good 

 olfactory proof of the transformation. And 

 certainly plenty of true June bugs, green above, 

 all yellow vinderneath, mingled amicably 

 enough in the flights and hummings of the 

 tumble bugs, black and green. 



Let me say further — of the magazine articles, 

 and the whole book — that my aim was not to 

 instruct, but to record a phase of life known to 

 me at first hand. Mr. Smith and the gentle- 

 men of his kidney who assume that whatever 

 is outside their own experience is necessarily 

 false, have, without intending it, done me a real 

 service, by showing me that before the book 

 appears I must so elaborate its motif, and make 

 it so glaring, and obvious, that even a way- 

 faring man, almost an infallible one, if he reads 

 at all, will be forced to read aright. 



Martha McCulloch-Williams. 



Very little comment on the above is really 

 necessary. If- Mrs. Williams is giving records 

 of superstitions and country beliefs she owes it 

 to her readers, as well as herself, to make it 

 perfectly clear that this is the case, and that they 

 are not intended to be received as instruction 

 or as statements of fact. I am unable to see 

 the bearing of some of Mrs. Williams's refer- 

 ences to Stanley, etc., but that I presume is due 

 to my own obtuseness. So I did not dream 

 that an oak twig could ever be called 'pithy.' 

 If the explanation were not made by a lady I 

 should call it quibbling. It is a real pleasure 

 to me to realize that I have done Mrs. Williams 

 a favor, and I hope it will inure to the benefit 

 of the readers of her forthcoming book. It is 

 of course adding another to my sins ; but I 

 cannot refrain from saying that no insect to 

 which the name ' locust ' was ever justly ap- 

 plied in any publication known to me, has ' two 



