207 
Even households have yielded me some uniques in the way of new 
pests. Ips fasciatus Oliv. and Nitidula bipustulata Linn, have both 
been received as infesting cupboards and pantries, where they depre- 
dated on bread, cakes, and other sweets. The larva3 of Attagenus 
megatoma Fab. (piceus), as shown by the adults afterwards reared, came 
to me as literally swarming under carpets, eating out the woolen por- 
tions of the fabric and rendering it worthless, doing a greater injury 
than the clothes moth. 
Finally, and going slightly beyond the bounds of entomology, 
according to a strict interpretation of the term, you will pardon me, 
perhaps, for directing attention to an invasion of a species of Myriopod 
(Fontaria castanea McNeill), as determined for me by Mr. Howard. In 
Vinton County these worms became so abundant about springs and 
wells as to temporarily ruin the water supply on some farms, gallons 
of dead worms accumulating about a single spring, the odor arising 
from their bodies resembling that of wild cherry. 
These are some of the surprises that have come to me during the 
year, and while we term them surprises, as indeed the like may not 
again occur in years, yet each is an oasis in the desert of inquiries in 
regard to how best to kill the squash bug, how to protect cucumbers 
from the striped beetles, etc. I am heartily in favor of placing such 
scraps on record, of course not as finished work, but we all under- 
stand how we, when we stumble upon any new thing, rummage our 
bookshelves for any clue to information previously gained, and how 
jealously we glean a point here and another there, knowing that every 
word is just so much light upon our obscure pathway. One little 
observation, carefully made, will often prove to some other investi- 
gator a veritable search light and save him no end of time and per- 
plexity, not to say patience, that virtue of which entomologists must 
of all others possess an ample supply. 
NOTES FROM NEW MEXICO. 
By T. D. A. Cockerell, Las Cruces, N. Mex. 
At the present time it is not possible to describe in any adequate 
maimer the injurious insects of New Mexico, but notwithstanding the 
small advance which has been made towards a full knowledge of the 
subject a few informal notes may have enough interest to be worth 
communicating. 
The writer has examined only two localities in the Territory, namely : 
1. The Mesilla Valley, in the southern portion of New Mexico, watered 
by the Rio Grande River, and about 3,800 feet above sea level. Here 
the summer temperature exceeds that which I experienced in Jamaica, 
but in the winter hard frosts are common, owing no doubt largely to 
the almost cloudless skies and the paucity of vegetation, which permit 
rapid radiation of heat during the night. The snowfall is very slight. 
