NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 77 



wlio yet are in the habit of exchanging with or supplying foreign 

 collectors, should movint some of their spare insects flat for this 

 purpose, and so save their correspondents the trouble of resetting 

 them. With regard to Mr. Jacoby's remark (Entom. xxix. 859), 

 referred to by Mr. Warburg, "the setting alone is no guarantee," I 

 should have thought that this was a fact so obvious to everyone that 

 it did not require mention ; but I venture to say that a British rarity 

 iiflat set would of a surety be eyed askance even although it might have 

 the necessary " label." Also this gentleman's reference to "mites" did 

 not seem to me to be quite happy. Is he not aware that in most, if 

 not all, good English collections the specimens are set well up on the 

 pins, and the wings do not touch the paper, consequently the " beautiful 

 chance " spoken of does not come in at all ; besides in a carefully 

 kept cabinet mites ought to be almost if not quite an unknown 

 quantity. — E. Sabine; Erith, Feb. 2nd, 1897. 



High-Flat Setting, &c. — The remarks of a correspondent re- 

 specting this subject (Entom. xxix. 380, 1896) amuse me considerably, 

 as they apparently seem to exhibit the preponderating influence of the 

 commercial instinct. If we all collected insects with the paramount 

 idea that they were ultimately destined for Stevens's Auction Rooms, 

 the study would be completely revolutionised. I consider your corre- 

 spondent a typical specimen of the British entomologist, in the 

 prejudiced opinion which he possesses respecting the mode of setting 

 insects. Another matter I should like to mention is the erroneous 

 way the majority of entomologists have, in this country, of pronoun- 

 cing the scientific names of insects. This is the outcome again of 

 our insular isolation. Foreign entomologists have a great difficulty 

 at first in understanding the English on account of their way of 

 pronouncing Latin names, which on the Continent are pronounced 

 very differently. Our style is not the orthodox one, and should 

 most certainly give way to that in use on the Continent, both in 

 countries where the Latin and the Teutonic elements prevail. 

 Although I am pleased to see more persons in this country are 

 taking an interest in foreign insects every year in proportion 

 to what formally prevailed, it is "nothing but insular prejudice" 

 perhaps which prevents many extending their interest, at least, to the 

 European, of which the British Fauna, as the late H. W. Bates once 

 said, constitutes only " a half-starved fragment." There is thus such 

 little intercourse between British entomologists and their confreres 

 abroad, that the opinion prevails generally in France and Germany 

 that there are very few students of the science, in comparison, in this 

 country. — W. Harcourt-Bath ; Birmingham. 



Uniformity in Pinning and Setting Lepidoptera. — Now that this 

 subject has been brought forward, I hope it will not be allowed to drop 

 until a satisfactory settlement has been arrived at if possible. Mr. 

 Tunstall's suggestion (Entom. xxix. 299) to adopt standard sizes of 

 pins is an excellent one, but I think it would not remedy the evil, for 

 I consider that the setting-boards are quite as much in fault, if not 

 more so. From my own experience I find that the setting-boards sup- 

 plied by dealers are most unsatisfactory. The grooves are very often 

 not deep or wide enough to set the insects well ; a board that is wide 



