480 



well in the investigations of the bites of poisonous insects and spiders. 

 He says, where the i^erson has been bitten : 



Ascertain, if possible, the exact condition of the jiatient at the time of the inflic- 

 tion of the -wouud, as regards both sobriety and his general condition, making sure 

 that the reptile that inflicted the bite was a specimen of a Heloderma. Be careful 

 not to destroy the victim with the remedies you administer to offset the effects of the 

 bite. A quart of raw whisky, practically given at one dose, may prove more fatal 

 than the bites of ten Helodermas. If the patient dies after the bite of one of the rep- 

 tiles be sure to ascertain whether it was from the effects of the bite or from the effects 

 of the remedies administered. The locality of the bite and other matters, of course, 

 should also be carefully noted. 



SOME TASMANIAN PRUIT PESTS. 



In a note on some injurious and beneficial insects of Anstralia and 

 Tasmania, published in Insect Life, vol. i, p. 361, mention was made 

 of the periodical appearance and depredations of the " Green Bug," 

 Biphucephala splendens in orchards of both Australia and Tasmania, 

 On the authority of Mr. Keene, of the latter colony, residing in the lit- 

 tle hamlet of Kingston, the statement was made that this insect- 

 appeared regularly every four years, but, like our periodical Cicada, 

 occurring during different years in difierent localities. In February, 

 1889, Mr. Keene told me that the year 1890 was the one during which 

 they would next occur in his locality. Strictly in accordance with this 

 statement, my friend and correspondent, Mr. Horace Watson, then 

 residing at Kingston, but now living at Sandy Bay, near Hobart Town, 

 writes me that the pest had put in its appearance in the neighborhood 

 of Kingston and hadseriously injured the apple orchards by destroying 

 their foliage. In accordance with the data they will be due to appear in 

 the Kangaroo Valley and about Hobart early in 1892, and, as my friend 

 is now well provided with American appliances for spraying, we shall 

 look for some interesting results from the effects of arsenical poisons. 



Mr. Watson sends specimens of a " leach" which iujures the foliage 

 of Cherry, Pear, and Scarlet Hawthorn. Dr. Kiley, who has kindly ex- 

 amined these larvae for me, says they are not distinguishable from those 

 of our Pear Slug, Selandria cerasi, and the leaves sent with them from 

 Tasmania show an injury exactly similar to that caused by the Pear Slug. 



Late in 1889 considerable apprehension was excited by the occur- 

 rence of a small grub in the fruit of the Cherry abont Hobart, especially 

 injuring varieties like the Florence and Bigaroo. Mr. Alexander Mor- 

 ton, F. L. S., after examination, expressed the opinion that the pest was 

 the grub of our Plum Curculio, Conotrachelus nemiphar. Wliat the final 

 outcome of the matter proved to be I have never learned ; but until 

 our little Turk has reached the Pacific slope there is little reason for 

 our Austlaian cousins to fear its appearance among tliem. Should 

 the pest attack fruits other than cherries it might not be a bad idea for 

 our California fruit-growers to be on the lookout for its importation, 

 which appears the most likely of the two to occur. — [F. M, Webster, 

 May 4, 1891.1 



