THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 157 



by means of the setting-needle, pol^e all the plaster out 

 again, and wash the inside of the dried skin with a solution 

 of corrosive sublimate and spirits of wine. The body may 

 then be filled with cotton, if thought proper. 1 have speci- 

 mens of Dicranura vinula done in tliis way three or four 

 years ago, which look as fresh as if bred but yesterday ; 

 and the person who gave me the hint had a long series of 

 Salicis, every one with bodies as white as snow. — S. L. 

 Mosley ; Almondbury Bank, Huddersfield. 



Preserving Larvie. — I am glad to see entomologists are 

 turning their attention to this branch of study. I do all mine 

 by inflating over a spirit-lamp, and have preserved larvte from 

 Ligniperda down to a Depressaria, including Chrysorrhoea, 

 Auriflua, &c. My greatest difficulty has been with the green 

 larvae, such as Pieris Rapae, Plusia chrysitis, &c., which not 

 only lose their beautiful green tint, but assume a very ugly 

 brown. 1 have tried colouring, both internal and external, 

 but with very little success; and have many times been very 

 vexed when correspondents have sent me such larvae to 

 operate upon, and have had to return them in such an 

 unsatisfactory state. I disagree with Dr. Knaggs, when he 

 says that preserved larvae, pupae, &c., should be kept in 

 cases separate from the imagos ; I think it is the very use of 

 them, that they should be placed side by side in the same 

 drawer. I not only do this, but include the food-plant as 

 well, dried in a natural position, and the larvae mounted upon 

 it.— /d 



Podalirius and Machaon. — Having only quite recently 

 returned to England from the Continent, 1 find a large 

 accumulation of the 'Entomologist' at my house, which 

 have not been forwarded to me by my friends during my 

 absence ; and, upon looking over them, I see numerous 

 questions and answers relative to Machaon being double- 

 brooded. In the neighbourhood of Coblenz, where 1 have 

 been for the last two years and a half, Machaon is undoubtedly 

 double-brooded. 1 find on reference to my last year's diary 

 (1875, which was an extra good year for both Machaon and 

 Podalirius, 1874 being quite the reverse) that I captured my 

 first Machaon on the 13th of May, and captured them almost 

 every day up to the 24tli, when they ceased altogether, and 

 did not reappear until August lOlh, when they occurred in 



