172 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



ON LABELLING INSECTS. 

 By E. Brunetti. 



There is a great lack of uniformity in labelling insects, 

 owing to which it is often impossible to distinguish the name of 

 the locality from that of the collector ; and with reference to the 

 date of capture, it is impossible to discover what is meant (when 

 the day of capture happens to be less than the 13th) on account 

 of some collectors placing the day of the month first, and others 

 the month. 



For instance, a specimen taken on May 10th, 1901, would 

 by some be labelled 10.5.1901, and by others (chiefly amongst 

 Americans) 5.10.1901. On passing from one collection to 

 another, the recipient would be undecided as to whether the 

 figures referred to May 10th or October 5th. 



Again, now that exchange abroad is much more common 

 than formerly, it is insufficient to give simply the village or 

 wood in which the insect is taken. 



The province or county should also be given, in full if pos- 

 sible, unless the name of the country be also added, when both 

 the latter may be abbreviated; as, for example, "Bradford, 

 Yorks., Eng.," or " Shovel Mount, Burnet Co., Tex." 



It must be remembered that there are counties of Middlesex, 

 Surrey, and Cornwall in Jamaica ; that there are similar instances 

 everywhere, and hosts of towns with well-known English names 

 in the United States, in Canada, and other colonies; so that 

 specimens so ambiguously labelled as "London," "Victoria," 

 &c., might give rise to much confusion in general collections. 



I have the honour, therefore, to propose the following system 

 of labelling all insects : — 



1st. — The exact locality to be given in full, invariably in- 

 cluding county (or province) also, such as "Bognor, Sussex." 

 " Admont, St.yria." " Palm Beach, Florida." ; or, if the county's 

 name be abbreviated, the country also to be added, as "Bradford, 

 Yorks., Eng." 



2nd. — The date to be invariably given in the following order : 

 day, month, year; and, to further avoid misunderstanding, the 

 month to be given in roman numerals ; thus. May 10th, 1901, 

 should read lO.v.1901. 



3rd. — The collector's name (if added) to be always placed 

 sideways to the rest of the inscription, and the ticket to be 

 attached to the insect, so that it may be read from the right 

 hand side of the specimen. Examples : — 



New Forest, 



Hants, Eng. 



16. vi. 1901 



Lake KeuTia, 



New York. 



14. viii. 1901 



