145 



insect all over the country is additional evidence of its imiiortation from 

 Euroi)e altliougii we have previously i)ra('ti(*ally settled this point, 

 showing, in 1889 (Insect Life, vol. ii, p. 9G), that it was probably first 

 imported in the year 188G in the vicinity of New York (Jity. It is inter- 

 esting to note how generally the popular name ''Texas Fly" or ''Texas 

 Horn Fly" is applied to tliis insect throughout the Xorth. This is an 

 unfortunate cognomen and indicates an entirely erroneous idea of its 

 origin. 



THE TANNIN IN A SUMACH PLANT-LOUSE GALL. 



We are informed by Prof. Henry Trimble, of the Philadelphia Col- 

 lege of Pharmacy, that the gall of Pemphigus rhois Fitch upon Bhits 

 glahrus, specimens of which he sent us for determination, contains 

 nearly as much tannin as the ordinary commercial Oynipid gall from 

 China and Japan, viz, from 60 to 70 per cent. While this fact may not 

 prove of commercial value, it is interesting to know that the galls con- 

 tain three times as much tannin as the foliage of the Sumach, the action 

 of the insect seeming to concentrate the tannin of the plant in the gall 

 formation. 



THE FEMALE REAR-HORSE VERSUS THE MALE. 



It is a well-known fact that the male insect of the family Mantidse ap- 

 proaches the female at the risk of his life. Several instances have been 

 recorded where the female has devoured the male, and we have reason 

 tobelievethatmanysimilarunrecorded observations havebeen made. In 

 Science (vol. Yiii, p. 326, Oct. 8, 1886) we described an instance in which the 

 male gained connection with the female only after his head, front legs, and 

 one-third of his thorax had been devoured, and we surmised that the 

 act of copulation might ordinarily take place while the female was mak- 

 ing a meal of her unfortunate mate. This, however, seems not to be 

 the invariable rule. Col. John Bowles, of Washington, D. C, brought 

 us on the 8th of September a pair of Stagmomcmtis Carolina, which he 

 had carefully watched. When he found them they were in copula and 

 the male was uninjured. While he watched, however, the female turned 

 her head and began to rapidly devour the head of the male. The male 

 remained i)erfectly quiet and made no effort to escape. She ate up 

 his head, his front legs, and was busily engaged ux:)on his thorax, when 

 Col. Bowles, wishing to save the specimens in that condition, killed 

 her by painting her head with a camePs hair brush dipped in chloro- 

 form. The observer sui^posed that the male was already dead, but im- 

 mediately upon the death of the female the mutilated male made violent 

 efforts to escape, but before he succeeded in doing so he was pinned by 

 Col. Bowles in the normal position and the specimen was brought to 

 us. The nonchalance with which the male devoted himself to the sac- 

 rifice and the struggles which he made immediately upon the death of 

 the female indicated to Col. Bowles' mind that the male has no serious 

 objection to this method of suicide. 



