CAPTURES AND FIELD REPORTS. 289 



as sold by chemists, will be found useful. Take care, iu rofixing the 

 abdomen, to get the natural pose as nearly as possible. Apply tiic 

 shellac, &c., with a blunted settini^-needle in preference to a brush. 

 For relaxing purposes get a good-sized shallow meat-dish with cover ; 

 cheap tin ones can be bought in any market for a few pence. Fill the 

 dish nearly full with clean sand, add a little water, but only sufficient 

 to make the sand da)np — never ivet. Mix fifteen drops of carbolic 

 acid with the sand to prevent the formation of mould. Cover the 

 sand with a piece of clean blotting-paper, and lay the insects on 

 the blotting-paper ; place a piece of blotting-paper over the insects 

 to check possible condensation ; lastly, put on the dish-cover, A 

 couple of days, as a rule, will be sufficient to relax any moth or 

 butterfly. The wings should not be allowed to get wet, or they 

 will be spoilt, especially in the case of whites, blues, &c. Before re- 

 setting it is often desirable to re-pin. The old pin is to be got rid of 

 without damage to the specimen. Press the nails of the thumb and 

 forefinger of the left hand close together so as to form a sensitive vice ; 

 grasp the pin with this vice — underneath the insect, and closely touch- 

 ing the thorax. Press the pin downwards, using the first finger of the 

 right hand. Having loosened the pin, press it up again through the 

 thorax, and see that it is clean. Stick the pin, with the insect, into a 

 piece of cork ; then, with two setting-ueedles pressed on the thorax 

 close to the pin, free the insect entirely. When inserting a fresh pin 

 use the hole through the thorax made by the old pin, A slight depar- 

 ture from the angle made by the old pin will render firm the new one. 

 Besetting now follows, and the wing-surfaces should by this time be 

 free from damp. In resetting, the front legs should be stretched out 

 obliquely so as to be well shown. Loose antennae, as well as wings, 

 are best replaced while the insect is resting in the groove of the setting- 

 board. The edges of the groove act as supports. Care should be 

 taken that such antenna or wings are relaxed, or they will easily break, 

 especially the antennae. As a rule, the insects will be dry in a week. 

 As a further safeguard against mould, place them a yard in front of a 

 moderate fire for a quarter of an hour; then take them ofl" the setting- 

 boards, refix the data-labels, and they are ready for the cabinet. — 

 J. Arkle ; Chester. 



CAPTURES AND FIELD REPORTS. 



Manduca (Achekontia) atropos at Chichester. — Several larva; of 

 Manduc.a atropos were found here iu potato-fields during the month of 

 September, and pupae dug up. — Joseph Anderson ; Chichester. 



NoTss FROM Chichester. — Macroglossa stellataniui, in company with 

 Pijrameis atalanta, was a frequent visitor this year to the garden, and 

 one I noticed on the evening of October 2nd was hovering over 

 geranium flowers in the border (with much enjoyment apparently) in 

 the midst of torrents of rain and high wind. The last date this 

 season that I saw any of the " whites " was on October '25th — one of 

 the many beautiful sunny days of that month — when a Pieris rapcc was 

 settled on the blossom of a white cactus dahlia, in which position it 



