344 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



THE GREVILLE COLLECTION OF CHALCIDID^ 

 AND PROCTOTRYPID/E IN THE ROYAL 

 SCOTTISH MUSEUM, WITH SOME REFER- 

 ENCES TO WALKER'S TYPES. 



By Percy H. Grimshaw, F.R.S.E., F.E.S. 



In the year 1858, the Edinburgh College Museum acquired 

 from Dr R. Kaye Greville a collection of British insects of 

 various orders, contained in thirty large boxes. This collection 

 is still in existence, and, in common with a vast amount of 

 other material from the same source (brought together 

 mainly in the first half of the nineteenth century), is now 

 housed in the cabinets of the Royal Scottish Museum. 



Greville's specimens are remarkable for their perfect 

 condition and for the beautiful manner in which they are 

 set, even the smallest examples having their wings and legs 

 arranged with extreme care and symmetry. Most of the 

 specimens are mounted with gum on thin card — a method 

 very often condemned at the present day ; but the Rev. Mr 

 Waterston informs me that in his study of Chalcids he is 

 reverting to the carding method, since in the case of minute 

 insects it tends greatly to their preservation, while on the 

 other hand it is a simple matter to float off the specimen, 

 take off any special portion of it for detailed examination, 

 and remount as required. It is gratif}'ing, therefore, to know 

 that the Greville collection is likely to be of some use ; and 

 since it contains nearly 250 species of Chalcididae and 

 Proctotrypidse, mostly collected in the neighbourhood of 

 Edinburgh,^ and, I believe, not previously recorded, I have 

 thought it advisable to publish a list as a preliminary step. 

 It requires the services of an expert in these difficult insects 

 before the specimens can be referred to their modern genera, 

 and I am happy to say that Mr Waterston has promised to 

 examine and report upon them in the near future. 



' In the New Statistical Account referred to on the next page the 

 following sentence occurs : " Dr Greville has in his collection 133 named 

 species belonging to the family ChalcididcB alone, collected for the most 

 part in Dalmeny Park," Linlithgowshire. 



