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placed in spirit immediately after collection and forwarded in a 

 bottle or corked tube. Care must be taken with the strength of 

 the spirit used. A 30-per cent, spirit is quite sufficient to act as 

 a preservative, and this can easily be obtained by taking distilled 

 rum and adding two parts of water to one of the rum. If mate- 

 rial is sent in undiluted spirit or high wines, it becomes so hard 

 and brittle that examination is exceedingly difficult. 



When leaves, buds, or twigs are attacked, the specimens should 

 show as many stages of the disease as possible. Detached leaves 

 alone are, as a rule, useless. If practicable, the root, after the soil 

 has been shaken off, should be sent, as in many instances, the 

 primary cause of the trouble is located there. 



When fruits or herbaceous stems are attacked, pieces showing 

 all stages of the disease, should be placed in spirit as before. 

 When it is thought desirable to send very large specimens, such 

 as portions of branches, roots, or whole cacao pods, these should 

 be collected as late as possible before the mail steamer leaves and 

 sent in a well ventilated case. 



Full particulars should also be forwarded, giving details of the 

 time of appearance of the disease, the damage done, the part at- 

 tacked, the nature of the soil, drainage, and also whether an ap- 

 parently similar kind of disease had been previously observed. 



With regard to the forwarding of insects for examination, di- 

 rections have already been given in the Agricultural Nctvs (Vol. IV. 

 p. 168), but on account of the repeated disappointment resulting 

 from material being badly packed the following detailed instruc- 

 tions have been prepared : 



Insect material for transmission must be packed in such a way 

 (l) that it will not be broken, bruised, or crushed, and (2) that it 

 will not be spoiled by the growth of moulds, mildew, or bacteria. 



In considering the manner of forwarding insects, these may be 

 divided roughly into these three groups : (i) Larvae that is, grubs, 

 maggots, caterpillars, including borers, etc. (2) Hard insects, 

 such as beetles, bugs, grass-hoppers, crickets, bees and wasps. 

 (Scale insects may be included in this group.) (3) Frail insects, 

 such as butterflies, moths, flies, etc. 



In packing for transportation the following rules apply to these 

 groups : — 



Group I. — When sent alive, larvae should be packed with a 

 supply of the food plants on which they have been found feeding 

 or in the plant material they infest, in such way that they should 

 not be rattled about in the package or crushed by portions of the 

 food plant, etc. When not sent alive they should be preserved in 

 a tightly-corked tube or vial in diluted spirit or formalin. 



Group II. — When sent alive these insects should be provided 

 with food, as for instance, in the case of lady-birds, leaves and 

 twigs infested with the plant lice or scale insects on which they 

 feed should be included and packed in such a way that they can- 

 not rattle about in the box. Footholds, such as crumpled pieces 

 of blotting paper, should be given the insects also. When not 

 sent alive insects of this group should be dried and wrapped loose 



