1897.] ^':] 



essential, as the least wet tends to cui'l the wings up at the end and 

 to mat the hairs of the body. The objection to cyanide in the eyes of 

 many collectors is that it renders the specimens very rigid ; thej 

 can, however, be relaxed by placing them in a laurel bottle afterwards, 

 but personally, as I do not set my specimens, this rigidity does not 

 cause me any inconvenience. Another inconvenience of cyanide is that 

 in some cases the yellow colour of insects will be turned red if left in 

 the bottle too long ; if, therefore, the captures cannot be set the same 

 day, they should not be left in the bottle over night, at any rate, if 

 there are any brightly coloured specimens amongst them. 



The other necessary to the collector is a net. This, to my mind, 

 should be as small as possible ; the one I use myself is on a ring of 

 about !S inches diameter, and is made of the very finest white net 

 obtainable, 22 meshes to the inch will be fine enough to hold any of 

 the aculeates. The net should not be too long, about once and a half 

 the length of the diameter of the ring is a convenient length, and the 

 end of it should be kept as widely rounded as possible, as a pointed 

 net is often very inconvenient ; the best sort of ring I believe to be 

 a diminutive, steel, landing-net ring, which will fold up, with a 

 "universal" screw, this sci-ew (which is known throughout the fishing 

 world) and ferrules to fit it can be obtained in most of our towns. The 

 stick is the next important thing and should, I think, be light and short ; 

 two feet long is quite enough for ordinary purposes, and for quick work 

 shortness is indispensable, and although at times a longer one may be 

 useful, the inconvenience of carrying about and changing the sticks 

 is such that it is probably scarcely worth while to do so. Pocket sticks 

 can be obtained made on a telescopic principle, which I have found 

 especially handy and useful. 



Equipped with a net and a killing bottle a collector is prepared 

 to go out and try his luck. In early spring he will find the catkins 

 of the sallows {i. e., the short catkined species of Salix) offer the 

 most attractions to the Hi/menoptera ; these plants, on bright, sunshiny 

 mornings, often seeming alive with insects. The difficulties of the 

 entomologist now begin ; there are probably dozens of Hive Bees, 

 many flies, and a few Andre^ias, some of which latter may be rare, and 

 it is often no easy matter to tell them apart ; a hive bee, a large $ 

 Andrena, such as 7'osce, nigrocenea or tibialis, and a large Eristalis fly 

 are very much alike to an unexperienced eye; by degrees, howevei", 

 one begins to recognise them by the peculiarities of their flight, &c. 

 A hive bee, when flying, droops its legs and never shows the white 

 pollen of the sallow on its tibiae, it also hums ; an Eristalis is more 



