NOTES, CAPTURES, ETC. 125 



at the root of a tree near Nottingham. The Kev. W. W. 

 Fowler was kind enough to name it. — Thomas Ludgrove ; 31, 

 Lytton Street, Long Edge Lane, Nottingham, March 16, 1885. 



A Eeflector for Examining the ventral surface of 

 Lepidoptera. — This instrument, which I have recently designed, 

 is of easy construction and exceedingly simple, both in application 

 and principle. It has been of great service to me, and the hope 

 that others may avail themselves of its advantages is the motive 

 for the following publication of its details. A thin glass micro- 

 scopic circle, about one inch in diameter, is silvered and converted 

 into a good mirror ; a stout piece of wire, forming a handle, is 

 beaten out at one end for about an inch, turned down at right 

 angles, and the mirror mounted upon the flattened end, face 

 upwards, with shellac softened in spirit, or any other cement. By 

 the use of this contrivance the entire under sides of butter- 

 flies, &c., can be examined without their removal from the cork. 

 It is only necessary to pass the mirror underneath the insect to 

 obtain a good reflection of the wings, legs, anus, and organs of 

 the mouth. By inclining the mirror at different angles various 

 aspects of the face and palpi may be seen. I have found it 

 particularly useful in the examination of Lycaenidse and Satyridse. 

 It succeeds best with insects mounted high up on the pins ; but 

 even when there is only just room to slide the mirror underneath 

 it may be employed with efi'ect. — Geo. Coverdale ; 24, Fleming 

 Koad, Lorrimore Square, S.E., February 14, 1885. 



Naphthaline. — There appears in the 'Entomologist' 

 (Entom. xviii. 55) a note from Miss R. M. Sotheby referring 

 to lump naphthaline. As I was the first person to mention this 

 now generally-used substance, may I say that entomologists 

 ought to be careful as to lump naphthaline ? I have not seen 

 that used by Miss Sotheby ; but some time since a friend showed 

 me a drawer, in the cells of which he had put some of this lump 

 najDlithaline, where the glass of the drawer and also the paper 

 and insects were covered with black specks, which seemed to 

 stick to everything in the drawer. I can only put this down to 

 impure naphthaline, that is possessing iron and other impurities. 

 The naphthaline I advocated some years ago in this Journal was 

 that known as purified, in pure white crystals, very much 

 resembling the flakes of nitrate of silver, as used in photography. 

 Your readers will at once see the trouble and probable loss in 



