206 [September, 



preparation on ii fairly long pin, to which any necessary labels can be 

 attached without clanger to legs or antennae. (2) It is very desirable 

 that the wings should be so disposed as not to conceal any part of 

 the abdomen above ; and it is really necessary that they should not be 

 allowed to interfere with either the dorsal or the lateral view of the 

 saw-sheath. (8) ISome attention should be given to the arrangement 

 of the antennce, as it isdifBcultto estimate correctly either their length 

 as a whole, or the proportions of their separate joints, if they are 

 allowed to dry in an awkward position ; and the legs also ought to be 

 comfortably visible at least from below, but 1 do not believe in 

 elaborately extending them, as is done by some collectors, both 

 because this increases the risk of breaking them, and because it may 

 prevent a lens of short focus being brought to bear on a side-view of 

 the insect. (■!) Dolerus specimens are apt to become very dirty and 

 greasy in the cabinet, and it is well to see to this before it goes too 

 far, and to brush them over occasionally with a fine and so/3f camel's 

 hair pencil to remove loose dust, and then remove any grease with 

 just a trace of benzine, or methylated ether, or peti'ol. (5) If a leg, 

 antenna, or wing is found to have dried in a position which makes it 

 conceal some other portion of the insect that needs examination, it 

 can be touched with a drop of wood-naphtha, and in a short time 

 will become supple enough to be moved gently aside without much 

 risk of a breakage, even in quite old specimens. 



Personally, I find it altogether useless to attempt the determina- 

 tion of Doleri, except in good diffused daylight ; and when looking 

 for the various characters of sculpture which distinguish the species 

 — the elevations and depressions of certain areas, the comparative 

 strength of their puncturation, the presence or absence of polished 

 spaces, impressed shining sutures, and the like — I have often to hold 

 a specimen in a good many different positions before I can be sure 

 whether the characters sought are really present. In some lights a 

 surface, which is really pretty closely punctured, will " glare " in such 

 a manner as to make its punctures quite unrecognisable ; and, ^er 

 contra, a surface, which is really highly polished, w^ill not appear so 

 unless the light falls upon it in a certain way. I find it, also, 

 exceedingly easy to make mistakes about the pilosity-characters, and 

 the more or less metallic reflections of the integument in certain 

 species, unless considerable trouble is taken to get a specimen into 

 exactly the position which best displays them. Of course, in all 

 determinations of species, these matters require attention ; but, for 

 Bome reason which I do not altogether understand, neglect of them 



