6o THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



particular specimen for the purpose of recording any 

 observations which may have been made regarding habits 

 or other points of interest, which records should be jotted 

 down, at the time, in a note-book. The boxes should be 

 numbered in ink on the bottom previous to starting from 

 home, a plan which will prevent mistakes being made in the 

 field, where the collector has usually plenty of other work to 

 do. So long as the observation recorded in the book bears 

 the number of the box containing the fly concerned, the 

 sequence of the numbers used is of no consequence whatever. 

 For Crane-flies (Tipulidae) which, if mixed with other flies in 

 the killing-bottles invariably lose most of their legs, it is 

 desirable to provide a number of well-made chip boxes, with 

 firmly fitting lids, putting each specimen alive and direct front 

 the net into a separate box, and immediately afterwards 

 marking the outside of the lid with a pencil to indicate that 

 the box contains a specimen and must not be opened again 

 until home is reached. These Crane-flies can then all be 

 killed and pinned at the same time, and the loss of limbs 

 reduced to a minimum. 



It will thus be seen that the whole outfit for a day's 

 collecting of Diptera comprises only the following : a folding 

 net, with bag, ring, and stick complete, a spare bag, two 

 (perhaps three) small cyanide bottles, a couple of dozen glass- 

 topped boxes, and a like number of chip boxes. The whole 

 of this apparatus can be stowed away in a jacket well 

 provided with pockets, and if a good lens and a pair of fine 

 forceps (with points protected by a cork) be added the 

 collector may set out with little encumbrance and much 

 confidence. A canvas bag of a suitable size for holding 

 everything (lunch included !) may be slung over the back, 

 but if this can be dispensed with so much the better. 



Before leaving this section of our subject let it once more 

 be emphasised that little discrimination need or should be 

 used in the gathering of specimens. It is an easy matter to 

 discard, when pinning, common species or duplicates, and if 

 everything that comes into the net be bottled, killed, and 

 boxed, many species will reward the collector which otherwise 

 he might never come across. It is also desirable to urge 



