379 



spices, tobacco, and other pungent substances. It is Lasioderma serricorne. This in- 

 jury to cigarettes has been obser%''ed in other localities, and samples of damaged goods 

 have been sent to the Division before. In tobacco warehouses in Baltimore particu- 

 larly it has done much injury to cigars and cigarettes, x'referring the latter. It is very 

 abundant one year and then disappears almost entirely for a number of years. It is 

 a night flyer, and enters store-houses through open windows or cracks at night only. 

 The best way to destroy the larvre and eggs is to thoroughly steam all the tobacco. 

 The steaming which is done in the jjreparation of cigarette tobacco is either not thor- 

 ou2:h enough or the tobacco is left for a longer or shorter time after steaming and 

 before being made up, and in this interim the beetles enter it. Many precautions 

 should be used. Cut tobacco should be kept in tightly-closed boxes when not in use. 

 All manufactured cigarettes should be packed up at the close of the day's work, or if 

 this be not possible, they should be closely covered with flannel cloth. All the win- 

 dows in the building should be closed at night, and its general cleanliness should be 

 carefully looked after. No dust heaps should be allowed to accumulate, and the walls 

 should be kept whitewashed. The bisulphide of carbon would hardly be a safe or 

 pleasant remedy in this case. It would be of considerable interest if you would 

 carefully rear the insect and note its habits and natural history, particularly the 

 length of time of the different larval stages and the number of annual generations. 

 — [January 18, 1886.] , 



Injury by the Fall Web-worm in Texas. 



* * * The "Fall Web-worm" has been doing great damage to the trees on this 

 island, more this year than formerly, owing. I presume, to the little attention that has 

 been paid here to its ravages. It seems to prefer the leaves of the Mulberry. I have 

 two large Black Mulberry trees, which the Web-worms would defoliate in a week, 

 but I have kept the numbers down by cutting off the branches as I noted the webs 

 on the leaves. The worms are now coming out for the third time this season. — [E. P. 

 Clegg, Galveston, Tex., September 3, 1888. 



Dryocampa imperialis on Elm and Linden. 



I herewith send you a larva that I have never seen before. It feeds on the Linden 

 tree, Norway Spruce, and Elm tree. I cannot find it in any book I have. It is about 

 the size of the Cecropia Silk-worm {Attacus cecropia), has long white hairs all over it, 

 and the warts are yellow. Please send me the name of it if you can. — [Victor Braid- 

 wood, Vineland, N. J., September 10, 1888. 



Reply. — * * * The worm sent is the larva of the Imperial Moth {Dryocampa 

 imperialis). It is known to feed on the Button-wood or Plane-tree, Sweetgum, Alder, 

 Willow, Pine, Spruce, Tamarack, but isnot included in Packard's Report upon Forest 

 Insects, Bulletin 7 of the U. S. Entomological Commission, among the enemies of the 

 Elm or Linden ; so this fact may prove of interest. The caterpillars attain their full 

 size from the middle of August to the last of September, when they descend from the 

 trees to go into the ground. The moth appears in June and is of a fine yellow color, 

 sprinkled with purple-brown dots, with large patches at the base of the wings, and 

 with smaller spots near the middle and a wavy band of purplish-brown toward the 

 hind margin of each wing. It expands from 4^ to 5 inches. — [September 12, 1888.] 



Larvae of Tenebrio molitor in a Woman's Stomach. 



I send herewith inclosed one of acouple of insects claimed to have been ejected 

 from the stomach of a woman in an adjoining county, and sent me for diagnosis and 

 treatment. It is not an Entozoa that I know or can find any information about. 

 Please examine, name, classify, and tell me its habitat. — [John S. Apperson, M. D., 

 Glade Springs, Va., April 30, 1889. 



