145 



the lower sheet and the upper surface of the mattress almost alive with the insects. 

 To use her own language: "A pin-point could not have been put down without touch- 

 ing one or more of the hugs." Further search showed a very unpleasant state of 

 affairs. The walls of the room were so covered with the insects that a sweep of the 

 hand removed them by the thousand, and the other rooms in the house were almost 

 as badly infested. The bureau drawers were swarming with them. They were be- 

 hind the pictures and between the pictures and the glass in crawling cohorts. They 

 were under everything and in everything. To say that the neat housekeeper was 

 beside herself is putting it mildly indeed. 



The mattress was removed and examined. Without exaggeration it contained mill- 

 ions. Then came the house-cleaning. The walls and floors were washed with solu- 

 tion of borax and corrosive sublimate. Pyrethrum powder was freely used. All the 

 carpets were sent to the steam-cleaners. The furniture was beaten, cleaned, and var- 

 nished. The struggle was continued for a year with all the persistence of an extra- 

 ordinarily neat housekeej)er. The insects had the best of it, and held possession in 

 diminished numbers. The family then removed to a hotel, while for days the closed 

 house was fumigated by burning sulphur, and the scrubbing processes were after- 

 wards repeated. The insects were again diminished, but the least relaxation in the 

 struggle was soon followed by an increase of the enemy. Again the house was va- 

 cated, and the closed, rooms were subjected to the vapor of benzine, basins and pans 

 being filled and the fluid left to evai^orate. The scrubbing ^Drocesses were again re- 

 peated, and the lady began to hope that the benzine had been the concluding touch, 

 although she continued to have the creatures on her mind and to watch for them. Her 

 hopes were vain. The insects are still in the house, two years after the removal of 

 the mattress, and in spite of all the harsh treatment they have received. These 

 Psocidw at least seem incapable of taking a hint. Their numbers are of course greatly 

 reduced, but they still march over the walls and hide in dark places. If you can 

 suggest a remedy that has not been tried, it will be accepted gratefully by that 

 troubled lady, and faithfully employed. 



As I close my letter it occurs to me that the house has been built less than three 

 years, and that the present neat occupants are the only ones it has ever had; also 

 that, in addition to the treatment detailed above, the house has been subjected to the 

 fumes of burning charcoal. 



If anything further is needed to show how tenacious of life these little creatures 

 aje, I may add that in order to mount them for microscopical examination they were 

 immersed in liquefied crystals of carbolic acid, where they continued alive for several 

 seconds.— [Alfred C. Stokes, Trenton, N. J., October 8, 1888. 



Note. — The specimens received were all immature, so that it was impossible to 

 determine the species. The insect belonged to the Psocidse, but apparently not to 

 the true genus Psocus. 



STEPS TOWARDS A REVISION OF CHAMBERS' INDEX, WITH NOTES 

 AND DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW SPECIES. 



By Lord Walsingham. 



{Continued from, page 117.] 



INCURVARIA Haw. 



Incurvaria punctiferella sp. u. 



Antennw, about half the length of the fore-wings: straw-colored at base, brownish 



beyond. 

 Palpi, very short, depressed ; apical joint half the length of the second joint. 

 Head and thorax, straw-colored. 



