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cyanic acid gas and, I believe, killed all of them. Mr. H. G. Hubbard in his report of 

 1885 speaks of the Red Scale being in Orlando and San Mateo, Fla., but I presume 

 they have spread to other places. — [C. C.Warren, Pomona, Cal., December 10, 1889. 

 Reply. —Yours of the 10th instant has just come to hand. I can give you little or 

 no information regarding injurious scale insects of other States which would be likely 

 to be dangerous in California beyond what you will find in Hubbard's Report on In- 

 sects Affecting the Orange (1885) and the report on Scale Insects in the Annual Re- 

 port of this Department for 1880. You are doubtless aware of the fact that the so- 

 called Red Scale of Florida differs from the Red Scale of California. — [December 18, 

 1889.] 



On some Dung Flies. 



I send by the same mail that will take this for identification two apparently dif- 

 ferent species of flies. Those in the smaller bottle, black in color and smaller in size, 

 I have noticed for a month past in great numbers in my poultry house in the barrel 

 which receives the daily droppings. A paper is folded tightly over the barrel on 

 which the cover is placed. On removing these the under side of the paper is often 

 quite black with the minute insects. Mingled with these a few house flies of varying 

 size are also seen, suggesting to me the thought that the minute ones are the early 

 stage of the common house fly. Then comes the idea that most (is it all?) insects 

 having the three stages make all their growth in the larva state and on reaching 

 the imago state are at first of their full size. This is true, may I ask, of the house 

 fly ? If this one I send is a species by itself, please give me its name and direct me 

 to its natural history. The other flies, of larger size, lighter color, and with reddish 

 head, I have not noticed till this morning. The pans in which the hen's food is eaten 

 are placed at night in the shed at an open window having a small mosquito screen 

 and the blinds are always shut. On going to the' pans this morning these flies arose 

 from them in swarms. There must have been hundreds of them, though not one has 

 been noticed before this year. These, however, are not new to us. We have always 

 noticed them upon fruits, especially when injured, and about cider-mills. Please 

 give its name. I should have said in writing of the others that on the paper where 

 I saw so many of the small, black flies I also noticed crawling about among them 

 other minute creatures of nearly the same size but wingless. Were they in any way 

 related to them ? Or can you tell what they probably are without specimens sent. — 

 [S. D. Hunt, South Franklin, Mass., August 31, 1889. 



Reply. — The two flies sent are undoubtedly two different species : The black one 

 cannot be recognized without a careful examination and study of the specimens, but 

 it is one of the DrosophiHdce and may belong to the genus Stegana. It is very distinct 

 from the house fly, and does not belong to the same family. The other larger fly of 

 lighter color is Drosophila ampelophila Loew, called by Professor Comstock the "Vine- 

 loving Pomace-fly " An account of its natural history is given by Professor Comstock 

 in the Annual Report of this Department for the years 1881-2, pp. 198-201.— [Septem- 

 ber 4, 1889.] 



Spider Bites. 



* * * In the fall of 1847, in southwestern Pennsylvania, I was called to treat a case 

 of spider bite. I saw the young man two or three hours after he was bitten. The 

 puncture was plainly seen on the wrist. The hand and arm were much swollen and 

 the axillary glands swollen and painful. Knowing tincture of lobelia to be a speci- 

 fic in poisoning by poison ivy (Rhus toxicodendron),! had his arm enveloped with 

 cloths saturated with the tincture, and gave enough internally to thoroughly empty 

 his stomach. In twelve hours he was well, but the swelling lasted two or three days. 

 That it was a spider bite I never knew, and always doubted. But in the coat-sleeve 

 he had been putting on was a flat circular nest such as spiders often spin in the fall 

 in garments hung in dark places. Those who believe in spider bites ought to show 

 the fangs or other organs with which they can bite, and also the poison-secreting glands 



