im.2 251 



Fleming's " Mikado Moth Papers," which I pin on to the lids of the 

 boxes. This plan, however, will only do for single-sided boxes ; for 

 double ones, the naphthaline balls on pins, supplied by naturalists, are 

 the best. 



If a cabinet is used, care should be taken to get a good one, with 

 thorougly well fitting drawers and glasses, good ones are expensive, 

 but in the long run they will repay the purchaser. 



It is always a great pleasure (when one has the time) to arrange 

 or re-arrange one's collection, and at this time of year when collecting 

 for the season is nearly over, one begins to think how this may best 

 be done, at any rate how the season's captures may most conveniently 

 be incorporated. Plenty of room should be left, as available space is 

 always a desideratum, and the sizes of the species should be carefully 

 considered before fixing their allotted space ; good clear labels, giving 

 the generic and specific names, should be used : the former preceding 

 the species which make up the genus, the latter following each species 

 in order. A collection neatly arranged, properly named, and carefully 

 labelled, is of great scientific value, and at the same time is a source 

 of great pleasure to the owner. 



St. Ann's, Woking : 



Octoher 1st, 1897. 



FLESH-FLIES BRED FROM SNAILS. 

 BY E. H. MEADE, F.R.C S. 



In a small collection of Snrcophagce (most of which had been bred 

 from locusts in Algeria) sent to me for identification by M. Jules 

 Kiinckel d'Herculais, of the Paris Museum of Natural History, there 

 was a pair belonging to iS. privigna, of Eondani (a species closely 

 allied to "S. carnnria, L.), which M. Kiinckel said had been bred from 

 Helix lactea in Algeria. This is not a new occurrence, for Mr. C. H. 

 Tyler Townsend, of Las Cruces, N. Mex., described in Psyche (Feb., 

 1892) a small Sarcophaga which he had bred from a snail, the Helix 

 thyroides, Say, and which he named S. helicis. The interesting point 

 connected with this circumstance is this : were the larvae of the fly 

 true parasites, or were they deposited upon the snail after its death ?, 

 in accordance with the more common habit of these insects to feed 

 upon carrion and decaying fungi, 



Bradford : September, 1897. 



