94 [April, 



during the humming, which one Avould have expected to have the same warning 

 effect as a gnat's hum on oneself. Possibly it was fascinated or paralyzed by 

 fear. Mrs. Richardson also witnessed the occurrence and drew the same con- 

 clusions. The whole effect was horrid, and suggested an aeroplane hovering above 

 with great noise, and preparing to drop a bomb ! — Nelson M. Richardson, 

 Montevideo, near Weymouth : January 30th, 1914. 



A chloroform killing and relaxing bottle. — For the purpose of killing insects 

 for the entomological collection, chloroform has manifest advantages in its rapid 

 and painless action, as well as in the fact that it rarely affects the colours of 

 specimens, which are often seriously impaired through the use of laurel and 

 other killing agents in general use. There is, however, one very serious and 

 well-known objection to chloroform in that it renders the specimens so rigid 

 after death that it is often extremely difficult to set them properly, and this 

 objection is most insistent in the case of small species. To attempt to meet this 

 difficrdty I have recently devised a special killing bottle, and as it is possible a 

 similar bottle has not already been used by others it may be desirable to describe 

 it. A wide-mouthed glass jar with a metal screw top is suitable, the screw top 

 being furnished inside with the usual cardboard disc, which may be supplemented 

 by the insertion of several similar discs of blotting paper. A piece of sponge 

 about the size of a large pea should be firmly attached, by means of a fine wire, 

 to the cardboard in the screw top. This sponge is intended to receive a few 

 drops of chloroform, which is thus effectively kept from direct contact with the 

 specimens in the jar. At the bottom of the bottle itself a much larger sponge 

 an inch or two in diameter, partially saturated with water is placed, the remain- 

 ing space in the lower portion of the jar being subsequently filled up with cotton 

 wool and the whole held compactly down by means of a tight-fitting cardboard 

 disc. Such a bottle will, of course, " sweat" in the same way as a laurel bottle ; 

 the portion above the cardboard disc therefore requires to be dried when 

 moisture accumulates on the glass. I have found that insects killed with 

 chloroform in a bottle of this design are usually fairly Avell relaxed in about 12 

 hours, and can then be set almost as easily as those killed with laurel. — G. V. 

 Hudson, Mount Earnslaw Hut, near Lake Wakatipu, New Zealand : January 

 13th, 1914. 



Wet seasons arid Acarid parasites on insects. — I find that nearly every insect 

 captured in this locality has one or more red Acarids attached to it, and in some 

 cases three or four Acarids have affixed themselves to a single specimen. This 

 infestation is not confined to Lepidoptcra, but is observable in the case of 

 Neuroptera, Diptera, etc. I recollect noticing the prevalence of these parasites 

 whilst collecting in this locality during the wet summer of 1902-1903. It is 

 obvious that in wet cold seasons such as the present, Lepidoptcra and other flying 

 insects must spend prolonged periods resting in sheltered spots waiting for a 

 spell of warm fine weather suitable for flight, and it seems a reasonable 

 assumption that it is during these prolonged waits that the Acarids attach them- 

 selves to their unfortunate hosts. As a matter of fact, I am at present detained 





