148 



I send herewith another batch, t hinking you will be able to -tell by dissecting that 

 he is filled with the juices of the bean; you can distinctly smell the bean odor. In 

 addition you will discover a su cker, which he keeps closed against his under body. 

 In his operation of feeding he lowers it with an apparent joint like the elbow ; this is 

 straightened as it is inserted into either the base of the bean flower or into the tender 

 pods. While working on the young buds or flowers he goes from one to another, not 

 satisfying himself until he has exhausted a good many ; he seems very greedy. 

 * * * — [George G. Curtiss, Brooks, Stafford County, Va., September 30, 1889. 



Reply. — * * * The insect in question is a common plant bug, probably Nezara 

 hilarls. The species can not be certainly determined in the absence of adult speci- 

 mens. This insect is ordinarily predaceous and feeds on other insects, but it is also 

 known to feed on the juice s of plants. It has been found puncturing the pods of the 

 Trumpet Creeper in a manner very similar to your description of its work on bean 

 pods. It may, therefore, be a question whether the damage it thus causes to plants 

 is not greater than the benefit derived from its feeding on and destroying the larvae 

 of other insects. An application of kerosene emulsion will probably be effective 

 against it.— [October 1, 1889.] 



Beetles in a Pin-cushion. 



I send you by mail a sample of the bugs found in the pin-cushion at Phenix. The 

 facts were as stated in the paper which you read. The bug is one of the smallest, 

 but the only one which I could get. — [D. O. King, M. D., Pontiac, R. I., July 8, 

 1889, to H. R. Storer, M. D., Newport,- R. I. 



" In the Phenix House a guest was entertained the other night who in the morning 

 averred that the room he occupied was haunted. This he told the host, who made a 

 cursory answer. But the guest went on to explain how the haunts and bogies plagued 

 him. He said they were scratching their hands over everything around the dressing- 

 case, and kept him awake the greater part of the night. The host and hostess went 

 to investigate. Sure enough, there was the scratching, sharp noise, without ceasing. 

 It seemed to come from a large toilet cushion on the dressing-case, but there was not 

 a break or crack in its satin covering. So certainly did the noise proceed from the 

 interior of the cushion that it was ripped open, and from its inner covering of cotton 

 cloth the filling was shaken. It was filled with coarse shorts, such as used in stables 

 for feed, and from this tumbled and rolled dozens of black bugs, known as ' snapping 

 bugs' of an inch long. These were what had made the scratching noises as they 

 crawled about against the lining of the cushion. The cushion had been made about 

 four years ago, and as it had never been opened the insects must have germinated in 

 the grain." — [Providence Journal, July 3, 1889. 



The inclosed history, with specimens (living), may interest you. I was suf- 

 ficiently amused by the newspaper jotting to request my friend, Dr. King, of War- 

 wick, who lives in the locality indicated, to look the matter up. He seemed to 

 think, with the people in question, that the case was one of prolonged gestation and 

 artificial delivery, while I am inclined to think that there must have been some mi- 

 nute opening in the cushion which escaped notice. — [H. R. Storer, president Newport 

 Natural History Society, Newport, R. I., July 12, 1889. 



Reply. — The specimen which you send is the adult beetle of the common meal- 

 worm (Tenebrio molitor). The story as given in the newspaper clipping is not un- 

 reasonable and the shorts used as filling for the pin-cushion may have contained the 

 eggs of the beetle when the cushion was originally made. The larvae developed in 

 the shorts and transformed to beetles, and there is no reason why several generations 

 might not have lived in the cushion, providing there was sufficient food. — [July 19, 

 1889. ] 



Texan Digger Wasp. 



I send you to-day box with specimens by mail. One of them is a large insect of, I 

 presume, the Hornet species which I received in a damaged condition. — [J. F. Wie- 

 landy, Springer, N. Mex., September 20, 1889. 



