June, '04] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 211 



by holding the broken tips of two over the flame together, 

 which will fuse them ; let them cool a moment, and then heat 

 a little back from the junction and draw out a new point. 



As soon as the name of the bred specimen can be obtained, 

 it should be written on the card, containing its life-history, 

 and from time to time the facts should be published. The 

 Editor of the News is hungry for just such original notes. 

 My services are freely offered here as elsewhere, and if any 

 collectors care to send me, in the fall after the breeding sea- 

 son is over, their notes and specimens, it will be a pleasure to 

 identify the latter and put the former into shape for the printer, 

 of course, giving full credit to the collector. 



The space limitations prohibit a very elaborate explanation 

 of ever}^ detail of the work which has been outlined in a gen- 

 eral way in this series of articles, and naturally some essential 

 points have been overlooked ; for instance, the proper height 

 at which the insects should be placed on the pins, which, in the 

 case of Kirby No. i pins, should be at such a height that three- 

 quarters to seven-eighths of an inch of the pin is below the 

 thorax. This will make the plane or flat surfaces of the wings, 

 when spread, about one inch above the point of the pin. 

 Minutien-Nadln should be stuck clear through the thorax, 

 leaving only about an eighth of an inch of the head or blunt 

 end above it, — just enough to grasp with the forceps ; this 

 will leave the greater part below the insect, where all the 

 length possible is required for pinning on setting-boards and 

 through the double mount. Mr. Merrick calls my attention 

 to this omission, and also adds that the tin portable moth 

 trays, made from his plans, should be rivetted together and 

 not soldered. Experience with solder on several occasions 

 was disastrous. 



As the majority of the readers of this are well aware, Mr. 

 Merrick has a large heart and kindly disposition ; hence, any- 

 one wanting to know more about the traps of his invention will 

 receive full advice and direction by addressing him. 



My collection of all of the families of Micro- Lepidoptera is 

 very complete and well worked up ; in fact, some groups con- 

 tain a larger proportion of named species than any other col- 



