Scientific American Supplement, Vol. XV., No. 388, June 9, 1883 by Various

V >> Various >> Scientific American Supplement, Vol. XV., No. 388, June 9, 1883

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Now, it is known that the south polar regions are more covered with
ice and snow than those of the north, and that the temperature there
the year around is lower. Whether this difference is owing to the
effects of the earth's journey through the ether, is a question.

The sun, too, moves with his northern hemisphere foremost, and it is
worthy of remark that it has been suspected that the northern
hemisphere of the sun radiates more heat than the southern.

But whatever effect it may or may not have upon the meteorological
condition of the earth, the fact that the solar system is thus
voyaging through space is in itself exceedingly interesting. Not the
wildest traveler's dream presents to the imagination such a voyage as
this on which every inhabitant of the earth is bound. A glance at a
star map shows that the direction in which we are going is carrying us
toward a region of the heavens exceedingly rich in stars, many, and
perhaps most, of which are greater suns than ours. There can be little
doubt that when the sun arrives in the neighborhood of those stars, he
will be surrounded by celestial scenery very different from and much
more brilliant than that of the region of space in which he now is.
The inhabitants of the globe at that distant period will certainly
behold new and far more glorious heavens, though the earth may be
unchanged.--_N.Y. Sun._

* * * * *

PROPAGATION OF MAPLE TREES.

I do not presume that all people over three score years of age are so
entirely ignorant as I am, but probably there are some. I have lived
more than sixty years almost in the woods, and I never observed, and
never heard any other person speak of, the blooming, seeding, and
maturing of the water maple. I have a beautiful low of water maple
shade trees along the street in front of my house. In March, 1882, I
observed that they were in bloom, and many bees were swarming about
them. After the bees left them I noticed the seed (specimens inclosed
of this spring's growth) in millions. As the leaves put out in April
the little knife blade seeds fell off, so thick as to almost cover the
ground. My grandson picked up three or four hatfuls, and I sent the
seed to my farm and had them drilled in like wheat, when I planted
corn. The result is I have from 300 to 500 beautiful maples from 6
inches to three feet high. I noticed the blooms again this spring, but
a cold snap killed the blooms, and only now and then can I find a
seed. I had a sugar tree in my yard, which bloomed and bore seed which
did not fall off through the summer. My yard now has as many little
sugar trees as it has leaves of blue grass.

It strikes me that the gathering and planting of maple seed is the
best way to wood the prairies of the West and the worn-out lands of
the Eastern and Middle States. The tree is valuable for shade and for
timber, and is as rapid in growth as any tree within my knowledge. I
noticed some trees of this sort yesterday which are from 21/2 to 31/2 feet
in diameter. The lumber from such timber makes beautiful furniture.
This is intended only for those who have been as non-observant as
myself, and not the wise, who are always posted.

Franklin, Tenn. J.B.M.

The seeds inclosed were the samaras of _Acer rubrum_, called the
"soft" maple in many localities, and "red" maple in others. We have
seen trees only three or four inches in diameter full of blossoms.
This is one of the earliest trees to bloom in spring, and the pretty
winged samaras soon mature and fall. The sugar maple, _Acer
saccharinum_, blossoms later, and the seeds are persistent till
autumn, and lie on the ground all winter before germinating. The
lumber from this latter is more valuable than soft maple, being
harder, heavier, and taking a better polish. Soft maple makes an
ox-yoke which is durable and not heavy. In early times a decoction of
the bark was frequently used for making a black ink.--_Country
Gentleman._

* * * * *

DIOSCOREA RETUSA.

[Illustration: FLOWERING SPRAY OF DIOSCOREA RETUSA.]

One of the most elegant plants one can have in a greenhouse is this
twiner, a native of South Africa. It has slender stems clothed with
distinctly veined leaves, and produces a profusion of creamy white
fragrant flowers in pendulous clusters, as shown in the annexed
engraving, for which we are indebted to Messrs Veitch of Chelsea, who
distributed the plant a few years ago. On several occasions Messrs
Veitch have exhibited it trained parasol fashion and covered
abundantly with elegant drooping clusters of flowers, and as such it
has been much admired. When planted out in a warmish greenhouse and
allowed to twine at will around an upright pillar, it is seen to the
best advantage, and, though not showy, makes a pleasing contrast with
other gayly tinted flowers. It is so unlike any other ornamental plant
in cultivation, that it ought to become more widely known than it
appears to be at present.--_The Garden._

* * * * *

RAVAGES OF A RARE SCOLYTID BEETLE IN THE SUGAR MAPLES OF
NORTHEASTERN NEW YORK.

About the first of last August (1882) I noticed that a large
percentage of the undergrowth of the sugar maple (_Acer saccharinum_)
in Lewis County, Northeastern New York, seemed to be dying The leaves
drooped and withered, and finally shriveled and dried, but still clung
to the branches.

The majority of the plants affected were bushes a centimeter or two in
thickness, and averaging from one to two meters in height, though a
few exceeded these dimensions. On attempting to pull them up they
uniformly, and almost without exception, broke off at the level of the
ground, leaving the root undisturbed. A glance at the broken end
sufficed to reveal the mystery, for it was perforated, both vertically
and horizontally, by the tubular excavations of a little Scolytid
beetle which, in most instances, was found still engaged in his work
of destruction.

At this time the wood immediately above the part actually invaded by
the insect was still sound, but a couple of months later it was
generally found to be rotten. During September and October I dug up
and examined a large number of apparently healthy young maples of
about the size of those already mentioned, and was somewhat surprised
to discover that fully ten per cent. of them were infested with the
same beetles, though the excavations had not as yet been sufficiently
extensive to affect the outward appearance of the bush. They must all
die during the coming winter, and next spring will show that, in Lewis
County alone, hundreds of thousands of young sugar maples perished
from the ravages of this Scolytid during the summer of 1882.

Dr. George H Horn, of Philadelphia, to whom I sent specimens for
identification, writes me that the beetle is _Corthylus
punctatissimus_, Zim, and that nothing is known of its habits. I take
pleasure, therefore, in contributing the present account, meager as it
is, of its operations, and have illustrated it with a few rough
sketches that are all of the natural size, excepting those of the
insects themselves, which are magnified about nine diameters.

The hole which constitutes the entrance to the excavation is, without
exception, at or very near the surface of the ground, and is
invariably beneath the layer of dead and decaying leaves that
everywhere covers the soil in our Northern deciduous forests. Each
burrow consists of a primary, more or less horizontal, circular canal,
that passes completely around the bush, but does not perforate into
the entrance hole, for it generally takes a slightly spiral course, so
that when back to the starting point it falls either a little above,
or a little below it--commonly the latter (see Figs. 1 and 2).

[Illustration: FIGS. 1 and 2--Mines of Corthylus
punctatissimus.]

It follows the periphery so closely that the outer layer of growing
wood, separating it from the bark, does not average 0.25 mm. in
thickness, and yet I have never known it to cut entirely through this,
so as to lie in contact with the bark.

From this primary circular excavation issue, at right angles, and
generally in both directions (up and down), a varying number of
straight tubes, parallel to the axis of the plant (see Figs. 1, 2, and
3). They average five or six millimeters in length, and commonly
terminate blindly, a mature beetle being usually found in the end of
each. Sometimes, but rarely, one or more of those vertical excavations
is found to extend farther, and, bending at a right angle, to take a
turn around the circumference of the bush, thus constituting a second
horizontal circular canal from which, as from the primary one, a
varying number of short vertical tubes branch off. And in very
exceptional cases these excavations extend still deeper, and there may
be three, or even four, more or less complete circular canals. Such an
unusual state of things exists in the specimen from which Fig 3 is
taken.

[Illustration: FIGS. 3 and 4--Mines of Corthylus
punctatissimus.]

It will be seen that with few exceptions, the most important of which
is shown in Fig 4, all the excavations (including both the horizontal
canals and their vertical off shoots) are made in the sap-wood
immediately under the bark, and not in the hard and comparatively dry
central portion. This is, doubtless, because the outer layers of the
wood are softer and more juicy, and therefore more easily cut, besides
containing more nutriment and being, doubt less, better relished than
the drier interior.

This beetle does not bore, like some insects, but devours bodily all
the wood that is removed in making its burrows. The depth of each
vertical tube may be taken as an index to the length of time the
animal has been at work, and the number of these tubes generally tells
how many inhabit each bush, for as a general rule each individual
makes but one hole, and is commonly found at the bottom of it. All of
the excavations are black inside.

The beetle is sub-cylindric in outline, and very small, measuring but
3.5 mm in length. Its color is a dark chestnut brown, some specimens
being almost black. Its head is bent down under the thorax, and cannot
be seen from above (see Fig. 5).

[Illustration: FIG 5.--Corthylus punctatissimus.]

Should this species become abundant and widely dispersed, it could but
exercise a disastrous influence upon the maple forests of the
future--_G. Hart Merriam, M D, in American Naturalist._

* * * * *

THE RED SPIDER.

(_Tetranyehus telarius._)

The red spider is not correctly speaking an insect, though it is
commonly spoken of as such, neither is it a spider, as its name would
imply, but an acarus or mite. Whether its name is correct or not, it
is a most destructive and troublesome pest wherever it makes its
presence felt, it by no means confines itself to one or only a few
kinds of plants, as many insects do, but it is very indiscriminate in
its choice of food, and it attacks both plants grown under glass and
those in the open air. When these pests are present in large numbers,
the leaves on which they feed soon present a sickly yellow or scorched
appearance, for the supply of sap is drawn off by myriads of these
little mites, which congregate on the under sides of the leaves, where
they live in a very delicate web, which they spin, and multiply very
rapidly; this web and the excrement of the red spider soon choke up
the pores of the leaves, which, deprived of their proper amount of
sap, and unable to procure the carbon from the atmosphere which they
so much need, are soon in a sorry plight. However promiscuous these
mites may be in their choice of food plants--melons, cucumbers, kidney
beans, hops, vines, apple, pear, plum, peach trees, limes, roses,
laurustinus, cactuses, clover, ferns, orchids, and various stove and
greenhouse plants being their particular favorites--they are by no
means insensible to the difference between dryness and moisture. To
the latter they have a most decided objection, and it is only in warm
and dry situations that they give much trouble, and it is nearly
always in dry seasons that plants, etc., out of doors suffer most from
these pests. Fruit trees grown against walls are particularly liable
to be attacked, since from their position the air round them is
generally warm and dry, and the cracks and boles in the walls are
favorite places for the red spider to shelter in, so that extra care
should be taken to prevent them from being infested, this may best be
effected by syringing the trees well night and morning with plain
water, directing the water particularly to the under sides of the
leaves, so as, if possible, to wash off the spiders and their webs. If
the trees be already attacked, adding soft soap and sulphur to the
water will destroy them.

[Illustration: FIG. 1--Red Spider (magnified). A 1. Ditto
(natural size). 2. Underside of head. 3. Foot. 4. Spinneret.]

Sulphur is one of the most efficient agents known for killing them,
but it will not, however, mix properly with water in its ordinary
form, but should be teated according to the following recipe:

Boil together in four gallons of water 1 lb. of flowers of sulphur and
2 lb. of fresh lime, and add 11/2 lb. of soft soap, and, before using, 3
gallons more of water, or mix 4 oz of sulphate of lime with half that
weight of soft soap, and, when well mixed, add 1 gallon of hot water.
Use when cool enough to bear your hand in it. Any insecticide
containing sulphur is useful. The walls should be well washed with
some insecticide of this kind. Old walls in which the pointing is bad
and the bricks full of nail holes, etc., are very difficult to keep
free from red spider. They should be painted over with a strong
solution of soot water mixed with clay to form a paint. To a gallon of
this paint add 1 lb. of flowers of sulphur and 2 oz of soft soap.

This mixture should be thoroughly rubbed with a brush into every crack
and crevice of the walls, and if applied regularly every year would
probably prevent the trees from being badly attacked. As the red
spider passes the winter under some shelter, frequently choosing
stones, rubbish, etc., near the roots of the trees, keeping the ground
near the trees clean and well cultivated will tend greatly to diminish
their numbers. In vineries one of the best ways of destroying these
creatures is to paint the hot water pipes with one part of fresh lime
and two parts of flowers of sulphur mixed into a paint. If a flue is
painted in this way, great care should be taken that the sulphur does
not burn, or much damage may be done, as the flues may become much
hotter than hot water pipes. During the earlier stages of growth keep
the atmosphere moist and impregnated with ammonia by a layer of fresh
stable litter, or by painting the hot water pipes with guano made into
a paint, as long as the air in the house is kept moist there is not
much danger of a bad attack. As soon as the leaves are off, the canes
should be dressed with the recipe already given for painting the
walls, and two inches or so of the surface soil removed and replaced
with fresh and all the wood and iron work of the house well scrubbed.
If carnations are attacked, tying up some flowers of sulphur in a
muslin bag and sulphuring the plants liberally, and washing them well
in three days' time has been recommended.

Tobacco water and tobacco smoke will also kill these pests, but as
neither tobacco nor sulphuring the hot water pipes can always be
resorted to with safety in houses, by far the better way is to keep a
sharp look out for this pest, and as soon as a plant is found to be
attacked to at once clean it with an insecticide which it is known the
plant will bear, and by this means prevent other plants from being
infested. These little mites breed with astonishing rapidity, so that
great care should be exercised in at once stopping an attack. A lady
friend of mine had some castor oil plants growing in pots in a window
which were badly attacked, and found that some lady-birds soon made
short work of the mites and cleared the plants. The red spider lays
its eggs among the threads of the web which it weaves over the under
sides of the leaves; the eggs are round and white; the young spiders
are hatched in about a week, and they very much resemble their parents
in general appearance, but they have only three pairs of legs instead
of four at first, and they do not acquire the fourth pair until they
have changed their skins several times; they are, of course, much
smaller in size, but are, however, in proportion just as destructive
as the older ones. They obtain the juices of the leaves by eating
through the skin with their mandibles, and then thrusting in their
probosces or suckers (Fig. 2), through which they draw out the juices.
These little creatures are so transparent, that it is very difficult
to make out all the details of their mouths accurately. The females
are very fertile, and breed with great rapidity under favorable
circumstances all the year round.

The red spiders, as I have already stated, are not real spiders, but
belong to the family Acarina or mites, a family included in the same
class (the arachnida) as the true spiders, from which they may be
easily distinguished by the want of any apparent division between the
head and thorax and body; in the true spiders the head and thorax are
united together and form one piece, to which the body is joined by a
slender waist. The arachnidae are followed by the myriapoda
(centipedes, etc.), and these by the insectiae or true insects. The red
spiders belong to the kind of mites called spinning mites, to
distinguish them from those which do not form a web of any kind. It is
not quite certain at present whether there is only one or more species
of red spider; but this is immaterial to the horticulturist, as their
habits and the means for their destruction are the same. The red
spider (Tetranychus telarius--Fig. 1) is very minute, not measuring
more than the sixtieth of an inch in length when full grown; their
color is very variable, some individuals being nearly white, others
greenish, or various shades of orange, and red. This variation in
color probably depends somewhat on their age or food--the red ones are
generally supposed to be the most mature. The head is furnished with a
pair of pointed mandibles, between which is a pointed beak or sucker
(Fig. 2). The legs are eight in number; the two front pairs project
forward and the other two backward; they are covered with long stiff
hairs; the extremities of the feet are provided with long bent hairs,
which are each terminated by a knob. The legs and feet appear to be
only used in drawing out the threads and weaving the web. The thread
is secreted by a nipple or spinneret (Fig. 4) situated near the apex
of the body on the under side. The upper surface of the body is
sparingly covered with long stiff hairs.--_G.S.S., in The Garden._

* * * * *

THE HELODERMA HORRIDUM.

The discussion of the curious lizard found in our Western Territories
and in Mexico, and variously known as the "Montana alligator," "the
Gila monster," and "the Mexican heloderma," is becoming decidedly
interesting.

As noted in a recent issue of the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, a live specimen
was sent last summer to Sir John Lubbock, and by him presented to the
London Zoological Gardens. At first it was handled as any other lizard
would be, without special fear of its bite, although its mouth is well
armed with teeth. Subsequent investigation has convinced its keepers
that the creature is not a fit subject for careless handling; that its
native reputation is justified by fact; and that it is an exception
to all known lizards, in that its teeth are poison fangs comparable
with those of venomous serpents.

Speaking of the Mexican reputation of the lizard, in a recent issue of
_Knowledge_, Dr. Andrew Wilson, whose opinion will be respected by all
naturalists, says that "without direct evidence of such a statement no
man of science, basing his knowledge of lizard nature on the exact
knowledge to hand, would have hesitated in rejecting the story as, at
least, improbable. Yet it is clear that the stories of the New World
may have had an actual basis of fact; for the _Heloderma horridum_ has
been, beyond doubt, proved to be poisonous in as high a degree as a
cobra or a rattlesnake.

"At first the lizard was freely handled by those in charge at Regent's
Park, and being a lizard, was regarded as harmless. It was certainly
dull and inactive, a result probably due to its long voyage and to the
want of food. Thanks, however, to the examination of Dr. Gunther, of
the British Museum, and to actual experiment, we now know that
_Heloderma_ will require in future to be classed among the deadly
enemies of other animals. Examining its mouth, Dr. Gunther found that
its teeth formed a literal series of poison fangs. Each tooth,
apparently, possesses a poison gland; and lizards, it may be added,
are plentifully supplied with these organs as a rule. Experimenting
upon the virulence of the poison, _Heloderma_ was made to bite a frog
and a guinea pig. The frog died in one minute, and the guinea-pig in
three. The virus required to produce these effects must be of
singularly acute and powerful nature. It is to be hoped that no case
of human misadventure at the teeth of _Heloderma_ may happen. There
can be no question, judging from the analogy of serpent-bite, that the
poison of the lizard would affect man."

[Illustration: HELODERMA HORRIDUM, OR GILA MONSTER]

In an article in the London _Field_, Mr. W.B. Tegetmeier states that
this remarkable lizard was first described in the _Isis_, in 1829, by
the German naturalist Wiegmann, who gave it the name it bears, and
noted the ophidian character of its teeth.

In the _Comptes Rendus_ of 1875, M.F. Sumichrast gave a much more
detailed account of the habits and mode of life of this animal, and
forwarded specimens in alcohol to Paris, where they were dissected and
carefully described. The results of these investigations have been
published in the third part of the "Mission Scientifique an Mexique,"
which, being devoted to reptiles, has been edited by Messrs. Aug.
Dumeril and Becourt.

The heloderm, according to M.F. Sumichrast, inhabits the hot zone of
Mexico--that intervening between the high mountains and the Pacific in
the districts bordering the Gulf of Tehuantepec. It is found only
where the climate is dry and hot; and on the moister eastern slopes of
the mountain chain that receive the damp winds from the Gulf of Mexico
it is entirely unknown. Of its habits but little is known, as it
appears to be, like many lizards, nocturnal, or seminocturnal, in its
movements, and, moreover, it is viewed with extreme dread by the
natives, who regard it as equally poisonous with the most venomous
serpents. It is obviously, however, a terrestrial animal, as it has
not a swimming tail flattened from side to side, nor the climbing feet
that so characteristically mark arboreal lizards. Sumichrast further
states that the animal has a strong nauseous smell, and that when
irritated it secretes a large quantity of gluey saliva. In order to
test its supposed poisonous property, he caused a young one to bite a
pullet under the wing. In a few minutes the adjacent parts became
violet in color, convulsions ensued, from which the bird partially
recovered, but it died at the expiration of twelve hours. A large cat
was also caused to be bitten in the foot by the same heloderm; it was
not killed, but the limb became swollen, and the cat continued
mewing for several hours, as if in extreme pain. The dead specimens
sent to Europe have been carefully examined as to the character of the
teeth. Sections of these have been made, which demonstrate the
existence of a canal in each, totally distinct from and anterior to
the pulp cavity; but the soft parts had not been examined with
sufficient care to determine the existence or non-existence of any
poison gland in immediate connection with these perforated teeth until
Dr. Gunther's observations were made, as described by Dr. Wilson.

Hitherto, as noted in a previous article, American naturalists have
regarded the heloderm as quite harmless--an opinion well sustained by
the judgment of many persons in Arizona and other parts of the West by
whom the reptile has been kept as an interesting though ugly pet.
While the Indians and native Mexicans believe the creature to be
venomous, we have never heard an instance in which the bite of it has
proved fatal.

A correspondent of the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, "C.E.J.," writing from
Salt Lake City, Utah, under date of September 8, says, after referring
to the article on the heloderm in our issue of August 26:

"Having resided in the southern part of this Territory for
seventeen years, where the mercury often reaches 110 deg. or more in
the shade, and handled a number of these 'monsters,' I can say
that I never yet knew anybody or anything to have perished from
their bite. We have often had two or three of them tied in the
door-yard by a hind leg, and the children have freely played
around them--picking them up by the nape of the neck and watching
them snap off a small bit from the end of a stick when poked at
them. We have fed them raw egg and milk; the latter they take with
great relish. At one time a small canine came too near the mouth
of our alligator (_mountain alligator_, we call them), when it
instantly caught the pup by the under jaw and held on as only it
could (they have a powerful jaw), nor would it release its hold
until choked near to death, which was done by taking it behind the
bony framework of the head, between the thumb and finger, and
pressing hard. The pup did considerable howling for half an hour,
by which time the jaw was much swollen, remaining so for two or
three days, after which it was all right again. By this I could
only conclude that the animal was but slightly poisonous. I never
knew of a human being having been bitten by one. My sister kept
one about the house for several weeks, and fed it from her hands
and with a spoon. The specimens have generally been sent (through
the Deseret Museum) to colleges and museums in the East.

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