isrs.] 65 



(he iiiil (^1' fine pliers ami sotting-necdlos, scouring llu' linihR in position, whon 

 iioc'C9sai:T, with pins ; on each side of the specimen I place a table for expanding the 

 wings upon ; this is simply a strip of good stout Bristol-board, that is, stout card ; 

 these tables must be of various sizes, and used according to the size of the wings of 

 the insect ; having fixed the tables firmly, I place the wings upon them with a 

 setting-needle, and having, by a little manipulation, if necessary, hooked the wings 

 together, pusli them forwards into the required position, liolding them there with a 

 needle, until, with a brace made of a strip of card shorter than the table, and pierced 

 through at one end with a pin, the wings are secured in their proper position ; the 

 last process is to arrange the antenna) : this can cometimcs be done by placing them 

 on the end of the table on wliich the wings are spread ; but, in the majority of cases, 

 it nmst be done with pins. 



The time necessary for insects to remain on the setting-boards depends upon a 

 variety of circumstances ; I am here alluding only to insects recently caught ; in the 

 lieight of summer, if dry and hot, a fortnight may do for small or slender insects, 

 but I seldom remove any so soon ; Bomli should, even in hot dry weather, remain 

 at least a month, and at other times must be left five or six weeks, or the wings will 

 be apt, in damp weather, to fall out of position. 



This method avoids even the possibility of any of the dire effects to which 

 insects are liable when treated after Dr. Kriechbaumer's method, as ho candidly 

 admits ; every specimen will now be in the most life-like position, and can bo 

 thoroughly examined in every part of its structure: nothing more can possibly be 

 desired, that I can imagine, and yet Dr. Kriechbauraer states, in his paper, that my 

 method leaves " much imperfection " ! — Fkedk. Smith, British Museum : July, 1875. 



Abnormal absence of an ocellus in a Trichopterous insect. — This morning, when 

 engaged in making drawings, under the microscope, from a Trichopterous insect 

 taken at the Hospice St. Bernard, and which I believe to be a $ of the little-knovra 

 Acrophylax zerberus, Brauer, I noticed that the left lateral ocellus was totally absent, 

 although the right lateral and intcr-antennal ocelli were quite normal, as was all the 

 rest of the insect. I do not remember to have seen a parallel instance of deformity 

 in insects anywhere recorded. Not only is the ocellus wanting, but the lateral cavity 

 in which it should bo placed is also nearly obliterated. — R. MoLaculan, Lewisham: 

 4i/i June, 1875. 



An addition to the knov;n species of British Trichoptera (Stenophylax rotundi- 

 pcnnis, Brauer) . — Being at present occupied with tlic genus Stenophylax in connection 

 with my 'Revision and Synopsis of ICuropean Trichoj)t<yra' the materials in my 

 collection, both British and continental, are naturally undergoing a close examination. 

 One re.«idt is, that I find, carelessly mixed with S. stellatus (or mther with the form 

 I have hitherto considered as racJtatu.s), a pair (<? ?) of S. rotxindipennis, Brauer, 

 taken by myself near Scarborough in the second half of August, IHfifi. It may 

 be separated from stcllnlus by its more rounded anterior-wings in both sexes. 

 The last (81 li) dorsal si^gment of the ^ has two largo rounded roughened black 

 si)aces, and the superior appendages are nuich broader and sliorter. In the ? the 

 last (Uth) dorsal segment has an clongatcly triangular median ]irolongation, and thus 

 is quite different to the formation seen in stellatus. On the continent it occurs in 

 Austria and ISavaria, and I believe in other parts of Germany, and in Holland. 

 Continental cxanqiles arc paler (more yellowish) than the British pair, which latter 

 resemble stellatus in coloration.-- lo. : I7th July, 1875. 



