I 



1884.] 175 



acid is of great use in preserving. I found it a good plan to just 

 touch with it all large insects I wished to pin ; decomposition seems 

 to set in almost immediately after death in these hot damp climates : 

 often I have pinned longicorns, &c., and, a day or two after, found 

 the contents of the body turned to water, and the legs and antennae 

 dropping out entire from their sockets ; by touching, however, in time 

 with carbolic acid, this can be prevented. Large Oi'tJioptera, Fulgoridce, 

 Cicadts, tbe large LihellulidcB, and even some Sphingidce, had better 

 have the contents of the abdomen taken out and re-placed with rolled 

 blotting paper. Blow-flies are often very troublesome, they are 

 especially fond of Orthoptera ; many times, on drying my boxes in the 

 sun, I have found Dipterous larvae or pupae dropping out of the bodies 

 of these and other insects. A large number of delicate fragile 

 CapsidcB and other insects, mounted fresh on card, arrived in this 

 country in first-rate condition. I had the greatest difficulty, I think, 

 in keeping the Triclioptera and the smaller Lepidoptera ; they would 

 mould, and, if dried too often, their wings shrivel a good deal. Soft, 

 thick-bodied moths, such as the Zi/gcBnidce and allies, do not come well 

 in papers, they are better pinned, as, indeed, are most moths. The 

 Castnics are most difficult to obtain in good condition (the Hesperidce 

 are bad enough), difficult to catch, and difficult to kill, and their 

 loosely attached scales come off at the slightest touch. 



Nearly everything can be killed with cyanide, some large moths, 



however, require pricking with a pen dipped in oxalic acid in solution, 



or some other poison ; yellow Hymenoptera must not be left long in 



cyanide, or they will change colour : the yellow turning to red. 



Natives often brought me large Passalidce, Longicorns, Biiprestidce, 



&c., tied round the junction of the thorax and abdomen with a thin 



piece of " bejuco," or vine from the forest, and moths, &c., impaled 



upon thorns, the latter plan I do not recommend, the former I often 



adopted out collecting, when my boxes were full. Travelling so much, 



I was able to do but little in the way of breeding Lepidoptera, it is 



not easy to carry many living larvae about with you on horseback, but, 



doubtless, a great deal could be done by any one stationary ; even with 



larvae, the ants troubled me a good deal ; as soon as one died, they 



would swarm in my breeding box. I obtained large numbers of insects 



at light, but sugar, on the few occasions I tried it, turned out a failure. 



To conclude, I may say that, during my residence in Central 



America, I probably obtained not less than 15,000 species of insects 



(besides other things), the greater part of which I hope to see 



eventually catalogued or described in Messrs. Godman and Salvin's 



splendid work on the Zoology of that country. 



(To be continued). /.'7 ' 



