86 



THE AMEEICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



and about the wrist, which liad become swollen, 

 and presented an inflamed appearance, extend- 

 ing along the cords of the arm to the sliotilder 

 blade, beneath which a hard kernel had formed, 

 in size nearly as larg-e as a common hickory nut. 

 The intlammatiou rapidly increased, and upon 

 the particular spot where he had noticed the 

 blood, there is a very painful sore, which looks 

 as if it had been caused by the application of 

 some rank poisonous substance. A hole has 

 been eaten in the wrist, which is now quite 

 deep, and is fast making its way to the bone. 

 The whole arm is badly swollen and inflamed, 

 and Mr. H. has iilaced himself under the charge 

 of Dr. J. E. AYhitman, of tliis place, who is en- 

 deavoring to counteract tlie poison communi- 

 cated to the system of the patient from the blood 

 of the potato L)ug. 



It has long been admitted that the potato bug 

 is a poisonous insect, but I apprehend the case 

 of Mr. Huntley will tend to make all under 

 whose observation this article may fall, still 

 more careful how they handle them in the fu- 

 ture. There are a number of others here whose 

 blood has become poisoned in the same manner, 

 causing pimples to appear on the skin, which, 

 however, are confined to the liands, and are not 

 seen on any other part of the body. 



Potato bugs can be killed with less trouble 

 and danger, by sprinkling the vines lightly with 

 Paris green, which is also a deadly poison. This 

 is the most effectual means yet discovered of 

 disposing of the potato bug, which has destroyed 

 so many crops in the country. The eggs that 

 have accumulated upon the vines will not hatch 

 after an application of Paris green. Let those 

 of our readers who are trying to raise potatoes 

 try this plau, if they wish to realize anything 

 from their ground and labor. 



We have lately received a copy of an essay 

 readbefore the Cook County (111.) Homoeopathic 

 Society, by Dr. E. M. Hale, in which many 

 other authentic cases are given, of persons being 

 poisoned by this insect. 



OP WHAT USE IS ENTOMOhOtlY ? 



The subjoined extract is from a recent num- 

 ber of the Canada Farmer: 



Not many years ago this was the question very 

 commonly addressed to Entomologists and col- 

 lectors of insects by those who chanced to find 

 them engaged in their favorite pitrsuit; and even 

 now there are not a few who look upon the study 

 as a mere waste of time, or at best a harmless 

 amusement. But — to use a favorite expression 

 of the day — "public opinion is being educated 

 up to a higher appreciation"' of the importance 

 of inseets to our welfare and comfort, and that 

 too by the hitherto despised insects themselves. 

 For what farmer can now think insects too in- 

 significant to be worthy of notice, when he finds 

 that one of the tiniest of them ruins his wheat- 

 fields and robs him of hundreds and thousands 

 of dollars 'i AYliat gardener but must conft-ss 

 that it is high time he knew something about 

 insects, when his currant and gooseberrybushes 

 are leafless and fruitless, his plum-trees a per- 



fect failure, his peaches nowhere, his cabbages 

 no sooner planted than cut off", his grape-vines 

 desolated with myriads of foes — in fact, almost 

 everything that he grows attacked, root, branch, 

 leaf and trunk ? What orchardist but must ac- 

 knowledge the power and restless activity of 

 the borer in the trunlis of his young trees, the 

 caterpillars on the leaves, the bark-lice on trunk 

 and branches, the worms in the very core of the 

 fruit itself ? What hop-grower but feels him- 

 self by sad experience utterly at the mercy of 

 the aphis and green caterpillar? What furrier 

 but loathes theDermestes and other beetle larvfe? 

 What timber-merchant but has had to race with 

 the pine-borer for the coveted fire-scorched track 

 of the forest? What butcher but groans and 

 perspires, even in chilly December, at the very 

 thought of the blow-fly? What housewife but 

 has been half-stifled with camphor and pepper 

 in warding off the clothes-motli from her treas- 

 ured store ? What — but we need not go on with 

 the list, for who is there that has no complaint 

 to make of trouble, loss, or annoyance occa- 

 sioned by these tiny but omnipresent foes? 

 Can then a study be pronounced useless or con- 

 temptible, which has for its object the acquire- 

 ment of accurate knowledge of the life and habits 

 of all these myriad foes, and not only of them, 

 but also of the thousands of usefitl insects be- 

 sides? Until this accurate knowledge be ob- 

 tained, we flght in the dark, and cannot tell 

 friend from foe, birt are just as likel}' to destroy 

 our most useful ally as our most destructive en- 

 emy ; and unless we are thoroughly acquainted 

 with the life and habits of these pests we can- 

 not apply a remedy with any certainty as to its 

 value or success. 



NEW INSECTICIDE. 



M. Cloez, who is engaged at the garden of 

 the Paris Museum — the world-renowned Jardin 

 des Plantes — has invented what he considers a 

 complete anuihilator for plant-lice and other 

 small insects. This discovery is given in the 

 Revue Horticole, with the endorsement of its 

 distinguished editor, E. A. Carriere. To re- 

 duce M. Cloez's preparation to our measures, 

 it wiU be sutficiently accurate to say, take three 

 and one-half ounces of quassia chips, and five 

 drachms Stavesacre seeds, powdered. These 

 are to be put in seven pints of water and boiled 

 until reduced to five pints. When the liquid is 

 cooled, strain it, and use with a watering pot 

 or syringe, as may be most convenient. We 

 are assured that this preparation has been most 

 efiicacious in France, and it will be worthwhile 

 for our gardeners to experiment with it. Quas- 

 sia lias long been used as an insect-destroyer. 

 The Stavesacre seeds are the seeds of a species 

 of Larkspur, or Delphinvmn, and used to be 

 kept in the old drug stores. Years ago they 

 were much used for an insect that foirnd its 

 home in the human head, but as that has fortu- 

 nately gone out of fashion, it maj"- bo that the 

 seeds are less obtainable than formerly. The 

 Stavesacre seeds contain Delphine, which is one 

 of the most active poisons known, and we have 

 no doubt that a very small share of it would 

 prove fatal to insects. — American Agriculturist. 



