220 THE entomologist's record. 



by digging into them. The latter method proved very hard work, as 

 the stumps were very firm, and, moreover, it was evident that nearly 

 all the beetles had emerged for the year. August 19th was spent at 

 Horning and Wroxham with Mr. Thouless. The weather, which was 

 dull on the 18th, having improved and become very hot, 1 visited 

 Horsford again on the 20th, Mr. Thouless this time accompanying me 

 in the morning. It turned out to be a most beautiful day, and the 

 beetle was observed in great profusion all over a large area where Scots 

 pine had been cut during the war. Females of the beetle were more 

 plentiful than the males. It is no exaggeration to say that Lcptiira 

 rubra had been present (or was present in the larval stages) in every 

 stump, however long ago it had been cut down, over the whole area. 

 I personally have no doubt whatever that this beautiful Longicorn 

 beetle has been present in this district for many years, and- that when 

 Mr. Thouless first tool^ it here it was no "chance specimen" nor 

 '' recent introduction." Of course the cutting down of so many Scots 

 pine during the war gave the beetle a splendid chance to increase, so 

 many suitable stumps for breeding in being left ; and it has evidently 

 availed itself of them to the utmost. — Horace Donisthorpe. 



(^lURRENT NOTES AND SHORT NOTICES. 



A correspondent writes us, "It seems to me regrettable that no one 

 has seen their way to replace the cork of insect boxes with a layer of the 

 india-rubber now sold in the shops, as it readily allows of the insertion 

 of all kinds of pins, and when working on .the more delicate Diptera it 

 is ten to one the pin if inserted in cork lining gets provokingly bent, 

 or deliberately snaps, with of course the end of the valuable specimen 

 you desired to transmit to posterity. Metal pins themselves are objec- 

 tionable, but nothing suitable to replace them, save possibly hardened 

 glass, of which some mention has been made, occurs to mind. Mount- 

 ing very small Diptera answers, but it renders the larger kinds un- 

 sightly. The india-rubber I may commend to notice, I always have 

 some pieces in use." 



" I can only afiirm that small pins penetrate this india-rubber, now 

 sold in the shops, with ease. Most sheets of cork are perforated with 

 cavities or are knotty, and very many small pms have T broken when 

 transferring minute insects to a store-box, Diptera especially. The 

 real question seems to me to be expense, and this the trade would be 

 best able to understand. I can only say that when lining paper con- 

 ceals a hard piece of cork it is most objectionable. The surface of the 

 india-rubber is white. It might be made whiter. The subject deserves 

 attention." 



Ugly stories come to us from Eoyston. We hear of sweeping for 

 A. coridon, poison- bottles crammed with specimens good and bad, the 

 hillsides dotted with small patches of those thrown out of the killing 

 bottles and rejected, etc., etc. It is much to be hoped that these stories 

 are extreme exaggerations, if not fabrications. 



Nothing " succeeds like success " we are told. We had never known 

 a Society double its subscription and at the same time increase its 

 membership until the Entomological Society of London did this ; and 

 it continues to increase. We urge our readers to become Fellows in 

 the coming year, and share in the prestige which this association of 

 entomological workers ensures. 



