313 



the store-room, where, however, it was in a good light and not near any old leather. 

 Yet when I opened it to use it in October, 1870, it was riddled with holes and the bee- 

 tles or furry-covered grubs were everywhere. I concluded that one or more must 

 have been in it from the beginning uuperceived and were thus imported from Russia, 

 as I had never heard of such hugs in this country. I had bought the trunk under the 

 impression that the peculiar odor of the Russia leather would repel moths and insects, 

 but I was thus undeceived. The burrows were worse in the leather, but there were 

 enough in the linen and especially in the wood, a hard hicliory, to show that the bee- 

 tle or grub was omnivorous. The trunk has long since gone to the old junk shop, 

 but the bugs will remain, as they seem to have gotten into the carpets and house gen- 

 erally. I trouble you with this to ask organization and laws to prevent the importa- 

 tion of foreign injurious insects just as for diseases, paupers, etc. — [Cleveland Abbe, 

 Washington, D. C, November 4, 1886. 



Note. — We attempted at the time to secure specimens of this insect in order to de- 

 termine it, but Professor Abbe was unable to furnish them. 



An early Note on the Periodical Cicada. 



In the Westei'ii MonihJy Magazine, No. XXI, September, 1834, published at Cincin- 

 nati, I fiud a note on the Periodical Cicada which seems not to have come under 

 your observation. It is in the form of an extract from the first number of " The Ad- 

 vocate of Science and the Annals of Natural History," published in Philadelphia, and 

 reads as follows : 



" The year of its appearance, however, varies in different sections of the country. 

 In 1792, according to Barton, it visited the neighborhood of Elizabethtown, N. J., and 

 had certainly appeared there three times before, at regular intervals of seventeen 

 years. In 1797 it appeared in some parts of the State of New York. In 1800 it vis- 

 ited most of the Southern and Middle States. It is known to have observed the 

 period of seventeen years in this extensive section of country, both before and since 

 that lime. In the middle and western portions of the State of North Carolina it ap- 

 peared in 1803."— [S. A. Forbes, Champaign, 111., May 8, 1888. 



More Evidence bearing on Spider Bites. 



Having seen a statement, taken from the Saint Louis Globe-Democrat,in regard to 

 your investigating a case of spider-bite in North Carolina, I thought it might perhaps 

 be of interest to you to give a statement of a case which occurred in my family at 

 Augusta, Woodruff County, Ark., in the summer of 1870. 



My little son, then about sixteen months of age, ran his finger into the key-hole of 

 the front door, and uttered a scream. I took him away, but could see no cause for his 

 continued screaming. I then thrust a stick in the key-hole, and a black or brown 

 spider, with a bright red spot either upon the back of the head or upon its back, ran 

 out. We put or bound common baking soda upon the fiuger, when he seemed to be 

 relieved, and I went to the court-house, as I was holding my court at the time. But 

 before time to adjourn court my wife sent me word that the boy was in spasms. We 

 called in our doctor, and ho claimed he had never known or heard of such a case, and 

 seemed to doubt that the trouble was thus caused ; by giving a powerful cathartic the 

 boy was relieved of his spasms, but he died in less than a year of dysentery, and we 

 always felt that the spider-bite led to his death, as it seemed he never recovered from 

 the etiects. — [A. D. Blanchard, Oneonta, N. Y., March 8, 1889, 



Buffalo Gnats on the Red River. 



I wish to call your attention to the fact that train-oil, or any kind of fish-oil, is an 

 absolute preventive against the attack of Buffalo Gnats when applied in very small 

 quantie« to work animals. I have experimented with tar water and other remedies 

 recommended in Report for 1886, and find nothing to compare with the cheap train- 



