NOTES AND OBSEKVATIONS. 197 



plains in summer. Leaving aside the probable cause of their presence 

 here in midsummer, I may add that Sir Walter Buller has fully 

 described the airy evolutions of these birds while " they hawk for 

 invisible flies," on the outskirts of the native bush. There is another 

 phase of the case which I may mention : I have frequently netted 

 numbers of gonerilla with irregular notches in both the fore and hind 

 wings. As already stated, I distinctly heard the snapping of the 

 fantail's bill when pursuing the butterfly, and I think there can be 

 little doubt that the notches are occasionally produced by these birds, 

 and perhaps other species. — W. W. Smith ; Ashburton, New Zealand, 

 January, 1894. 



" Cork Caepet " versus Cork. — Some of your readers may be able 

 to inform me if there is any objection to " cork carpet" as a substitute 

 for cork, other than its comparative weight, which surely cannot be a 

 very great obstacle against its employment, or we should build our 

 cabinets of a lighter wood than mahogany, and use thinner glass than 

 "flatted sheet "or "British plate." Boxes lined with this material 

 have reached me from correspondents and, so far as I can judge, it 

 appears to be peculiarly adapted for lining cabinet drawers and boxes, 

 as well as for making saddles, for it is very readily shaped by rasp, 

 file, or sand-paper. Its advantages compared with cork are, firstly, 

 that it is much cheaper ; secondly, that it does not consist of a 

 number of pieces which have to be fitted together and then smoothed 

 down to level surface ; thirdly, that it has neither holes nor hard 

 points ; and, fourthly, perhaps, that it is thicker than the cork usually 

 employed, thereby allowing a greater length of pin to be inserted, thus 

 affording a firmer hold. Of course both require to be brushed over 

 with two coats of size before papering. The substance above alluded 

 to is of the " corfcicine " rather than of the " linoleum " variety of the 

 article.— H. G. Knaggs ; Folkestone, May 8th, 1894. 



The CvANmE Bottle, — The description of the Parisian cyanide 

 bottle on page 177 is very interesting, as it states that a piece is 

 scooped out of the stopper about the size of a florin, and a hole is 

 made through that scoop of the circumference of a threepenny-piece. 

 I feel very interested to understand how a hole the size of a threepenny- 

 piece is made throiif/h a scoop the size of a florin ! It reminds me of 

 the description given in 'Farm Insects,' p. 143, by John Curtis, of 

 Anthomyia radicum, in which " the thorax is black, with three darker 

 stripes" ! I believe I know what Curtis meant, and I believe I under- 

 stand the improved cyanide bottle, but the method of describing is 

 curious in both cases. — Gr. H. Vereall ; Sussex Lodge, Newmarket, 

 April 30th, 1894. 



Patent Postal-box without Packing. — In the May number of the 

 * Entomologist's Monthly Magazine ' Dr. H. Guard Knaggs, who has 

 already done so much for the practical as well as for the systematic 

 phase of entomology, has described a new and very secure packing 

 arrangement for the transmission by post of entomological specimens. 

 By an ingenious arrangement of elastic bands, the box containing 

 specimens is suspended in the interior of a larger and stronger one, 



ENTOM. — JUNE, 1894. Q 



