THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 229 
trying experiments in this direction, and I should wish for 
assistance from some of your scientific contributors ; all will 
admit that, in such case, “prevention is better than cure.” 
Crotchet 3:—Might not camphor, in our cabinet-drawers, be 
superseded by a tuft of cotton-wool with a drop or two of the 
oil of cajeput on it: the odour of this essential oil is less dis- 
agreeable, and, I believe, is quite as efficient as camphor; it 
is less fugitive; and last, but not least, costs a good deal 
less than camphor.—S. Radcliff Fetherstonhaugh ; 17, Eccles 
Street, Dublin, December 7, 1870. 
[Crotchet 1:—With regard to strychnia I doubt whether 
there is any advantage in employing it, when our means 
of killing insects are so perfect and our choice so extensive. 
A glance at Mr. Greene’s invaiuable ‘ Companion’ will satisfy 
every enquirer on this point. Crotchets 2 and 3 I combine, 
because the subject of discussion seems, of necessity, one and 
the same. Camphor and grease are inseparable, cause and 
effect: you cannot use camphor without having grease: it is 
better to have neither. On the continent camphor is rarely 
used; in England, Mr. Doubleday’s collection, the neatest 
and cleanest I have ever seen, is never camphored: I should 
as soon expect to see him pour train-oil into his drawers as 
introduce a lump of camphor. ‘The collection under my own 
care is never camphored now; but it was formerly, as sodden 
patches of grease in the drawers abundantly testify. I assume 
that camphor is intended as a preventive against the attacks 
of Acari, Psoci, Ptini, and Tinew, all of which delight in the 
wortal remains of insects; but | am not, at present, a believer 
in spontaneous generation. I do not see how a brood of mites 
can enter and establish themselves in my drawer of Noto- 
dont, sponte sua, any wore than a herd of elephants can, 
sponte sua, make their appearance in my cockney garden, 
where they would, I think, be inconveniently crowded, should 
such a spontaneous generation take place. ‘This is one of my 
crotchets, although | am fully aware the “ British Association 
for the Advancement of Science” bids fair to rule otherwise. 
Well, then, not believing the tribe of mites can come of their 
own accord, I take as much care as I can not to introduce 
them by any act of my own. Supposing some kind entomo- 
logist makes me a present of insects from a mzley collection 
I transfer them, box and all, to the oven, and allow them to 
