THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 319 



Mites. — (1) Can you inform me to what species the mite 

 which infests insect-cabinets is referable ? Also any account 

 of its economy would be acceptable. (2) Does the species 

 infest Lepidoptera when at large, and, remaining in the body 

 whilst on the setting-boards, get introduced in this way into 

 cabinets ? (3) How are the mites propagated when once 

 introduced ? (4) I have tried camphor, benzine, mite- 

 destroying fluids and chemical preparations, without any 

 marked success. The pests are certainly diminished, but I 

 should be afraid to say that there is a drawer in my cabinet 

 which does not contain half a dozen at least, and this not- 

 withstanding constant attention and immediate annihilation 

 of mites errant. I saw some time since a recommendation, in 

 some Entomological book, to invert all the drawers, so that 

 the miles would find difficulty in walking head downwards. 

 When going to Cambridge in October last, I adopted this 

 plan, and hoped to find my cabinet free from mites on my 

 return in December, but was disappointed in this also. A 

 great objection to daubing the bodies of insects over with 

 liquids, as benzine and creosote, is that it generally leaves 

 the down on the thorax, feathered antennae, and several parts 

 of the body, matted together, thus spoiling the appearance of 

 the specimen. — G. H. Raynor. 



[(1) The mite which usually infests insects in cabinets is 

 Acarus destructor : it has not been observed, so far as I am 

 aware, on living Lepidoptera. (2 & 3) Its economy is that of 

 hundreds of cognate species; the egg is attached to some 

 hard and fixed object, and when mature the perfect mite 

 escapes, and begins to feed on any dried substances it finds 

 at hand. (4) 1 think the difficulty in applying solutions or 

 liquids of any kind is rather from want of experience, which 

 no instructions of mine can supply. I have never tried to 

 make mites walk head downwards. I should be inclined to 

 disregard such advice, wherever I heard or read it. — Edward 

 Newman I] 



Work on Coleoplera. — Please to state in the next number 

 of the 'Entomologist' if there be any work on Coleoptera 

 published, which is of a like form to those of yours on Lepi- 

 doptera.— W. B. Slater. 



[There is no work of the kind, so far as I am aware. Will 

 other correspondents take this as a reply to similar queries. — 

 Edward Newmati.] 



