THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 219 



feeding insect, and, having taken it home, T proceeded to cut 

 it into fragments, expecting to find a colony of Anobiiuu 

 castaneum ; instead of that species, to my surprise, I disin- 

 terred about tliree dozen specimens of Orchestes Ahii. They 

 were closely surrounded by frass, and had evidently pupized, 

 if not fed up, in the stump. Was it not a curious habitat for 

 this insect, as the larvae are stated to be leaf-feeders by most 

 writers } — Henry Moncreaff. 



Vanessa Cardui at Christmas. — This morning T captured 

 a beautiful and perfect specimen of Vanessa Cardui. Is it 

 not a rather unusual occurrence for the season of the year? — 

 Geo. Bell; Gun Wharf, Portsmouth, January 24, 1868. 



[I think not : hybernating butterflies come abroad when- 

 ever the thermometer approaches 60° Fahr., which it did just 

 before Christmas-day. — E. Newman l\ 



Pontia RapcB in January. — Mr. Wardle, gardener to 

 Alfred Illingworth, Esq., M.P., has kindly sent me a speci- 

 men of P. Rapse which he captured in the conservatory on 

 the 17th of January, and informs me that another white but- 

 terfly was seen a few days previously. Artificial heat has, I 

 presume, more to do with this premature birth than the 

 mildness of the season, but 1 thought the occurrence inte- 

 resting. — Edwin Birchall ; Newlay, Leeds, January 24. 



New Fluid for Preserving Larvie, S^c. — A cheap fluid for 

 the satisfactory preservation of larvae and other soft animal 

 forms has long been a desideratum among naturalists. The 

 following solutions, prepared by Prof. Verrill, and published 

 by him in ' Silliman's Journal,' have been found satisfactory 

 for the preservation of both the colour and form, as well as 

 the structure of larvae, fishes, mollusks, and leaves of plants : 

 ■ — Solution A 1 (which may be kept in wooden casks) : Rock 

 salt, 40 oz. ; nitre (nitrate of potassa), 4 oz. ; soft water, 

 1 gallon. This is the final solution in which all invertebrate 

 animals must be preserved. A solution with double the 

 amount of water may be kept, and called A 2 ; another, with 

 three gallons of water, will be A 3. Solution B 1 : Soft 

 water, 1 gallon ; solution A 1, 1 quart; ai'seniate of potassa, 

 1 oz. Another solution, with double the amount of water, 

 may be made, and called solution B 2. To preserve insects 

 with these solutions, they are placed first in solution B I, but 

 if the weather be cool it would be better to first employ B 2. 



