2 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



zone borders on a furrow, the larvae fall into it during the 

 night, and being incapable of climbing out, may be collected 

 in large numbers. They are not migratory, so that healthy 

 meadows may be found close to infested ones. Infestation 

 is due to chance circumstances bringing fertilised Tipulids to 

 the ground. The injury begins toward the end of winter, 

 and the spring growth limits its spread, the larvje being 

 active from October to May. The only practical measure of 

 control consists in deeply ploughing under the infested turf 

 and in sowing in the months of March and April." 



A practical hint which promises to be of service to the 

 collector of Butterflies and Moths is given by Winston St 

 A. St John.^ It is a common experience to find upon 

 opening one's store-box that some of the specimens have 

 relaxed and their wings drooped after they have been 

 carefully set and stowed away. To obviate this disappointing 

 result the author recommends the use of formaldehyde 

 (popularly known as " formalin "). His method is to place 

 the setting-boards, with insects thereon, in a fairly air-tight 

 box containing a piece of cotton-wool soaked with a 40 per 

 cent, solution of the fluid in question. This is the ordinary 

 strength as sold commercially. This should be done about a 

 fortnight after the specimens were set, and they should be 

 left in the box for a week, after which time they may be 

 transferred to the store-box or cabinet permanently fixed in 

 position. The sterilising effect of the formalin is another 

 advantage, and the only point to be raised against the 

 procedure appears to be the impossibility of changing the 

 style of setting once the specimens are fixed. It is for the 

 collector himself to decide whether a permanent and 

 unalterable setting is desirable or otherwise. 



A paper by Edmund Selous, entitled "Ornithological 

 Observations and Reflections in Shetland,"'^ may be read 

 with advantage by those who are interested in " the bird- 

 life " of Scotland. It is made up of the author's own observa- 

 tions on the habits of several species inhabiting the lochs, 



> Entomologist, December 1914, pp. 325-326. 



- The Naturalist, November and December 1914, pp. 355-357 and 

 365-379- 



