349 



ing was at ouce brought vividly to mind ; and all the circumstances favored the idea 

 that I had been bitteu by a spider. 



From the reported cases it seemed that a painful experience was before me, if noth- 

 ing worse ; but I could not help feeling a certain exultation because the elusive 

 creature had at last bitten the wrong man, and would soon b6 brought to the bar of 

 justice and his photograph placed in an entomological rogues' gallery. 



I took otf my boot and, holding it carefully, lighted a lamp ; and with intinite pains, 

 lest some guilty thing should escape, I soon succeeded in dislodging a fine wasp! 



Actuated by a strong sense of duty, nine out of every ten men will go out of their 

 way to kill a snake of whatever species. Probably as many believe that spiders are 

 capable of inflicting poisonous bites. Wasps are as common as spiders at some sea- 

 sons of the year about out-buildings. Lacking more positive evidence, it seems 

 probable to me that the sting of a wasp and the imagination of the patient are suffi- 

 cient to account for many so-called spider-bite cases. — [G. M. Dodge, Louisiana, Mo., 

 April 20, 1889. 



UROPODA A3IEKICANA ON EUPHORIA INDA. 



Mr. J. V. Daiisby, of Peusacola, Fla., sends us a specimen of Fu 

 phoria inda, unearthed in the working of a hot-bed. It was covered 

 with small parasites which proved to be Uropoda americana. This mite 

 commonly infests man}' beetles, but we believe has not previously been 

 recorded as infesting this particular species. 



EVAPORATED SULPHUR FOR RED SPIDER IN GREENHOUSES. 



Some interesting experiments have been carried on at Amherst by 

 S. T. Maynard, the horticulturist of the Massachusetts Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, which indicate that evaporated sulphur is uot only 

 a good fungicide, but that it is an excellent remedy against Tetramjchus 

 teJarius — the common Red Spider. The remedy consists in heating a 

 kettle of sulphur for three or four hours twice or three times a week to 

 nearly boiling point in the room with infested plants, care being taken 

 not to heat it so that it will take fire, but evaporating enough to fill the 

 room with visible vapor and to make the sulphur odor perceptible. So 

 perfect a remedy is this claimed to be that infested plants exposed for a 

 few hours in the room where sulphur is used are said to be completely 

 freed. 



DOUBLE FLOWERS CAUSED BY MITES. 



A large number of experiments have been carried out at Innsbruck 

 by Professor Peyritsch, tending to show that double fiowers may be 

 artificially produced by the agency of a mite (Phytoptus). It seems 

 that the professor was examining a wild double flower of Valeriana 

 trlpteriSj and discovered that it was infested with the mites in question. 

 He transferred these mites to other plants, chiefly of the orders Valeri- 

 anacew and Grucifene^ and a few ScrophaJarinece, Commelynacea'j and 

 even others, but the best results were obtained in the first named. Va- 

 rious kinds of doubling were produced, such as petalody of the stamens 

 and pistil, prolificatiou and duplication of the corolla, etc., as well as 

 torsions and fasciatious of the shoot. The leaves were also affected, 



