72 THE kntomologist's record. 



Mnts on " The Arrangement of our Cabinets," from the pen of Mr. 

 Hodges, appeared in the last vohime. These were limited to the Lepi- 

 doptera ; but if some Coleopterist, Hymenopterist, etc., would perform 

 the same sei'vice for his own special order, the information would 

 probably.be of great value to many incipients, whose inclinations may 

 lead them towards Beetles, Bees, Bugs or Blue-bottles. Again : what 

 is the most useful size pin for the smaller bees and other Hymenoptera, 

 and are black or white pins preferable for the whole ? I have used 

 Messrs. Kirby, Beard & Go's. No. 5 for the Bomhi, and for insects larger 

 than, say, Colletes succincta, but think that these would be too large for 

 the smaller species. Again : what is the best mode of collecting and 

 killing ants for the cabinet ? I have used the laurel bottle, but do not 

 consider it entirely satisfactory. Of course, a box for each specimen, 

 as with bees, is out of the question. Are they usually killed on the 

 spot, or brought home alive to be treated with sulphur ? Any informa- 

 tion on points like these would be exceedingly acceiDtable. I have 

 noticed that the subject of verdigris crops up from time to time. Probably 

 no perfect preventive has yet l)een discovered ; it may therefore be of 

 interest to note that I have two butterflies, the remains of a collection 

 Avhich I formed more than 20 years ago but which has long been 

 dispersed. These two specimens have been for many years, unknown 

 to me, lying by in a small postal box. About a year ago, I turned the 

 box out for examination, and was smprised to find the two insects in a 

 perfect state of preservation, with no sign of mites or verdigris, each 

 apparently as good as if only just captured. One is a ^ Colias edusa, 

 taken by myself in the month of Maj^, the other a Limeuitis sih/lla, also 

 taken by myself in, I believe, the same year (1869 or 1870). Both 

 are on white pins (black were unknown in those days), maker now 

 unknown, but they are still in such good condition that I have placed 

 them in my j^resent collection, and, but for the pins, they cannot be 

 distinguished from those I took last summer ; in fact, the latter insect 

 is far superior to some individuals of the same species which I have re- 

 ceived in exchange as ' good specimens.' Can any explanation be 

 given of this, to me remarkable, preservation of these insects? In 

 conclusion, allow me to thank you for having introduced your magazine 

 to my notice, and to express the hope that you may be able to extend 

 its usefulness in the direction I have suggested above." 



"Without entering into the discussion between Dr. Freer and Dr. 

 Knaggs, on the relative " energy " in male and female moths, we would 

 call the attention of the latter to a recent article in the American Nntn- 

 ralist, vol. xxvi., p. 653, which bears somewhat on tlie paragraph in 

 which he refers in a mildly sarcastic manner to the experiments of Mrs, 

 Treat, The paragraph referred to runs thus : — " It is just about twenty 

 years ago that I* penned a few lines on a similar theory. Speaking of 

 the more noticeable papers of the season ( 1874), I wrote as follows : — 

 ' I^ut, as Alice would say, the ' curiousest ' paper of all, is devoted to the 

 subject of controlling the sexes, by a process of starvation (the starve- 

 lings being males, and the healthy well-fed examples, females). When 

 it is taken into consideration that the writer is a lady, the whole affair 

 looks very like a satire on the male sex generally.' This article, by 

 Mrs. Mary Treat, which was published in the American Naturalist, vol. 

 viii.,"p. 129, is endorsed by Messrs. Geddes and Thompson." Now, 

 ridicule is a very useful thing in its proper place, but facts are stubborn 



