258 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



until, with a brace made of a strip of card shorter than the 

 table, and pierced through at one end with a pin, the wings 

 are secured in their proper position. The last process is to 

 arrange the antennae. This can sometimes be done by 

 placing them on the end of the table on which the wings are 

 spread; but, in the majority of cases, it must be done with 

 pins. The time necessary for insects to remain on the 

 setting-boards depends upon a variety of circumstances. I 

 am here alluding only to insects recently caught. In the 

 height of summer, if dry and hot, a fortnight may do for 

 small or slender insects, but I seldom remove any so soon. 

 Bombi should, even in hot, dry weather, remain at least a 

 month, and at other times must be left five or six weeks, or 

 the wings will be apt, in damp weather, to fall out of 

 position." — Frederick Smitli. 



Life-history of the Pear-tree Slug. By Edward Newman. 



The " potato-bug" seems reluctant to cross the Atlantic, 

 and the panic it engendered is dying out, in spite of the 

 energy which some practised scribe or expert conversationist 

 will occasionally strive to maintain or renew the excitement. 

 As if purposely to avail itself of the procrastination of this 

 coy and somewhat problematical mischief-maker, a real 

 insect grievance has taken up its abode in our midst, and 

 seems to demand serious attention. The pear-tree slug is a 

 reality, tangible, palpable, visible, smellable, — for it appeals 

 most forcibly to the olfactory organs. 



Mr. Fitch, to whom allusion will be made again hereafter, 

 in defence of the slug against this charge, thinks that the 

 smell is only emitted under circumstances of provocation, 

 and may possibly be protective only, — a sort of warning to 

 the aggressor not to taste a creature whose scent is so offensive, 

 lest he should find the flavour as repugnant to his palate as 

 the odour to his olfactory organs. This kind of protection is 

 possessed by the larvae of many other sawflies. 



Complaints as to the burnt-up appearance of our pear-trees, 

 — and, by the way, of our cherry-trees as well — inquiries as 

 to the cause ; and a plethora of infallible remedies, with 

 polysyllabic and for the most part unpronounceable names, 



