118 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST, 



cotton between the two in order to protect the antennce of the second lot 

 from interfering with and perhaps breaking the liind tarsi of the first. 

 Round insects with short legs such as Byrrhidae and Histerida? need no 

 such care. They may be dropped in one after the other only taking care 

 that the cotton is packed tightly enough to prevent any rolling around. 



In relaxing insects that have been put up in tubes I much prefer to 

 remove them first, as wet cotton clings to legs and claws so much more 

 tenaciously than dry. Others, however, may find it easier to disengage 

 them from this sticky cotton than to handle them dry. 



Never pack these tubes, containing insects, in a tight tin box for they 

 are almost certain to mould and spoil. Be also careful not to pack 

 insects loose in cotton unless you want to leave most of the antennae and 

 legs behind. I remember that during the first year spent in the south- 

 west I put up a lot of Eleodes, Etubaphion, etc., in cotton — simply 

 putting first a layer of cotton in the box and then one of insects — and 

 hardly a specimen came out whole. 



The method I now use, in packing for transportation insects of 

 considerable size, when taken in numbers, is that recommended by Drs. 

 Leconte and Packard. Taking a box of the right size (thread boxes do 

 nicely for insects the size of Nyctobates or smaller) a layer of cotton 

 about one-eighth of an inch in thickness is first laid neatly on the bottom. 

 Over this a piece of thin tissue paper is placed ; next I take a wisp of 

 cotton and roll it between my hands, making a roll long enough to reach 

 along one side of the box, with two more, one for each end. Now, 

 beginning at one end of the box place your beetles in an even row all 

 along one side, having first laid the roll of cotton in to keep the heads 

 from touching the box. When that row is full make another roll of cotton, 

 place it carefully back of these beetles, to keep the next row from touching 

 them, and put in more beetles as before. When one whole layer is 

 in position on the tissue paper, cover them first with another piece of 

 paper, then another layer of cotton, then more paper, followed 

 by another layer of beetles. From a written description this seems 

 a tedious process, but it is much quicker than putting them in 

 tubes, and is absolutely safe. Specimens of beetles are bound to carry 

 if packed thus in wood or pasteboard boxes strong enough to withstand 

 such pressure as they may be subjected to — but never use tin. 



My remarks apply chiefly to beetles, and I do not recommend these 

 modes of preparation for soft-bodied or delicate insects like the Neuroptera 

 or Lepidoptera. 



