THE PICNIC PROBLEM SOLVED.

Kumara Times, Issue 709, 7 January 1879, Page 2

THE PICNIC PROBLEM SOLVED.

A masker mind at present residing j in ,a New Jersey town has grappled j successfully with the picnic problem. ' The mind in question belongs to a man ■ who is an enthusiastic entomologist, and has a wonderful degree cf skill in training insects. With the aid of hdf a dozen trained spiders, several edu- j Gated ca turpi I la is, and a quantity of. wild and hungry flies and mosquitoes,’ he is able to furnish parties with all the pleasures of a picnic in his ownhouse. Last week he gave da experi-; mental picnic to a number of invited guests. The floor of his large dining- .: room was strewn with new-mown grass, plentifully mingled with thistles. Badly cooked food, with lemonade that Inid been thoroughly warmed by the son, was placed on the table ; and'though ; the guests were required- to ait bii tile I floor, they were expected t. go to the table when hungry. The flies and mosquitoes entered into th • sniric «.f the aflair, and were as active as if they had been in the open air, while the trained ! spiders and caterpillars did wonders, j In less than ten minutts the ladies ' unanimously acknowledged that, unless j perhaps the celebrated South African I picnic, where a company of ladies from | Cape Town accidentally sat down on a ' nesr of white ants and were devoured i.i -0 minutes, with the exception of their hair p ns and one crotchet needle, I iu real pien.c could have besu more i

exciting. Only one’ ins'ct—at spider—was accidentally killed, but the master mind has three others in train* ing to take its place, ami promises that his dining-room picnics shall compare.; ' favorably with the best opeii-auv.picnics in the point of really enterprising and efficient insects.—-Vow Vork Times.