The morning call., 1892-09-06
TIN MINES AND BEETLES.
Discussed by the Academy of sciencs
Last Night.

Discussed by the Academy of Sciences
Last Night.
At last nights meeting OF the Academy
Of Sciences, after the minutes Of the pre-
vious meeting had been approved and
long list of donations Of mineral and ento-
mol0gical specimens, petrfactons, etc,
had been read by the secretary, President
Hardness announced that the library
had been enriched by the addi-
tion of over thousand volumes.
among which were tile following
rare and valuable works: Annals des
Sciences Naturelles, series /, 2. 3. and 3,
containing 191 volumes; journal OF the
Royal Microscopical Society, 187S-1SS5, ff-
teen volumes; Royal Society publications,
fifty-fye volumes; Transactions Royal So
ciety of Edinburgh, thlrty-three volumes :;
Annals and Magazine of Natural History,
series !, 2. 3 and 4, sixty-eight volumes; !;
Transactions Of the IoOlo gical Society OF
London. volumes ! TO u; Lime library.
comprising 40S volumes OF the principal
works Of Linngus in all the editions, nclud-
ing all those rarest and hardest TO get.
The attention of the meeting was called
10 tray Of specimens from the tin mines of
Temescal, San BernaTdino County, contain
ing several samples OF ore, Stag, concentra-
tions, refined tin and a curious and very
valuable specimen of crystallized tin.
Superintendent +. w. Jones OF the smelt-
ing department of the Temescal mines ex-
planned the different stages of mining,
crushing and smelling the ore and refining
its product, which, with the exception of
the last process, are similar in nearly all re-
spects to the working OF gold and silver
ores.
The specimens exhibited were unusually
rich in tin. containing from to 40 per cent
of the pure metal. Under the questioning
of Theodore II. Hittell, the superintendent
admitted that the ore now being worked at
Temesca is not near as rich AS the speci-
mems shown. The Cornwall mines, how
ever, contain but TO per cent of the
metal, he said, and are worked with profit,
but no comparison could be made between
the two mines. as In Cornwall the deposit is
enormous and the labor cheap, while in
Temrscal the ore exists only in pockets and
labor is very high.
Charles Fuchs, the entOmologist, was in
yited 20 the rostrum at the close of Mr..
Jones remarks, aud at once entered upon
description OF the Phlenpterus dentipes,
which, by way of explanation, belenged, he
said, TO the Scolytval family.
In order that the particular branch OF the
family OF which ne was going 10 speak
might net be confounded with some Of its
numerous blood relations. the lecturer
passed around a tiny box containing sew
erai living specimens OF the PhlGopterus
dentipes referred to. and also a piece of
Monterey cypress upon which ii preys
The insect is a small black beetle, about
quarter the size of an average grain of
wheat. 1t is the most destructive known
pest to the pine tree, and in 1870 destroyed
no fewer than 100000 in the far-famed
forests OF the Hart2 Mountains A branch
of the same family is now working destruc-
ton to the pine and cypress trees in Golden
Gate Park
The insect possesses a sharp and power
full mandible with which IL perfOrates the
bark. In the iucision thus made it deposits
it's eggs, and when these are Matched out
the larye eat their way betw cen the bark
and the wood, sapping the life of the tree