298 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
S. lunaria were also taken by other members of the Club.— 
W. Maling; 15, St. Mary's Terrace, Jesmond Road, New- 
castle-on- Tyne, December 5, 1879. 
Chariclea Delphinii in Norfolk Crescent.— About six 
years ago I took a Noctua in the garden of Norfolk Crescent, 
which order of insects I do not collect. On showing it toa 
collector he told me it was Chariclea Delphinii, and asked me 
to forward the fact to your well-known magazine.—TZ. A. 
Taylor ; 23, Norfolk Crescent, November 30, 1870. 
[Probably introduced by the transmission of European 
plants to some nursery garden.— Edward Newman.]| 
Strychnia and Camphor Crotchets.—A few crotchets have 
possessed me, which I much desire to have either dispelled 
or confirmed by yourself or some of the other entomolestes 
luminaries that avail themselves of your pages. Crotchet 1: 
Why has not strychnia been adopted as a killing agent ine 
lepidopterous insects? I propose to use a solution ‘of it in 
spirit, for the purpose of killing insects by the usual thoracic 
stab: the wonderful power of this poison to destroy insect- 
life is evidenced by its extensive use in the very diluted form 
of fly-paper; but my crotchet is that, by its diffusive power, 
this poison, when thus introduced into the thorax of a living 
insect, would effectually ward off all future attacks of mites 
or other cabinet-pests from any portion of a specimen so 
killed, without recourse being necessary to bichloride of 
mercury, camphor, oil of cajeput, or any of the other 
preventives usually adopted. I have heard it asserted that 
the thousandth part of a grain of strychnia will kill a frog; 
ifso, who can calculate how small a portion will kill or dis- 
agree with a mite. Doubtless the consequent tetanus or 
extreme rigidity of the specimen may be raised as an 
objection to this mode of killing; but immediate setting, the 
laurel-jar, or the damp-sand box will meet that difficulty ; 
and if my crotchet of the diffusive power of the poison be 
well founded, it is worthy of a trial. Crotchet 2:— Grease, 
although the delight of cooks, is a terrible drawback to the 
pleasures of an insect collector; and I cannot but think the 
remedies hitherto proposed almost transcend the disease. It 
has occurred to me that a small orifice might be made in the 
abdomens of oleaginous species, and some chemical absorbent 
applied so soon as the insects leave the setting-board. Iam 
