170 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



clanger of the other insects being attacked unless any should be 

 in actual contact with the " mitey " one. 



(3) Uniformity. With high-flat-set insects it is possible to 

 attain a degree of uniformity in a collection that must commend 

 itself to all lovers of order and regularity. 



The foregoing may be taken as the principal reasons why I 

 advocate the high-flat style of setting, but, as I have said, there 

 are many others. These, I am sure, will make themselves 

 apparent to all who may try the method. Of course, what I 

 think an advantage others may consider the reverse, and, 

 foreseeing the possibiUty of this, I have mentioned three only, 

 because there can be no difference of opinion about them. 



With regard to uniformity of specimens in a collection, 

 there is no system of setting with which I am acquainted that 

 attains this end so thoroughly as that under consideration. In 

 British-set insects we have all grades in the slope of the wings 

 and in the length of pin showing beneath the specimens. In 

 some cases there is hardly enough of the pin through the insects 

 to secure them in the cork. In others the specimens are run up 

 to beyond the middle of the pin. To my eye, both look equally 

 bad ; the one appears to be plastered on the bottom of the 

 drawer like a "blue-bottle" on a " ketch-'em-alive," and the 

 other suggests an unsuccessful attempt at the continental style. 

 Of course the position of an insect on the pin and the dip of its 

 wings are in a measure regulated by individual fancy, con- 

 sequently vagaries in these matters are sometimes met with in 

 continental-set insects ; as a rule, however, there is greater uni- 

 formity in a collection of high-flat-set insects than is usually 

 seen in a collection consistmg of specimens set on sloping 

 boards, granting that the specimens comprised in the respective 

 collections have been operated upon by various manipulators. 



That any interest at all should be taken by British entomolo- 

 gists in the continental method of setting is in itself satisfactory, 

 as it shows that the insular practice is not quite all that could 

 be desired, and that some at least are quite ready to leave the 

 ancient groove. It is perhaps too much to expect that those who 

 have their collections complete, or nearly so, will essay the task 

 of re-setting ; but to those who are not in this enviable position, 

 and who wish to form a collection of Lepidoptera in which the 

 specimens shall be at once pleasing to the eye and in the best 



