148 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 
to the schaufusst young, seemed to be seeking adoption. Per- 
haps the method of colony formation resorted to by these 
insects may vary according to circumstances. It is certain, how- 
ever, that the establishment of a colony must be attended with 
great difficulties or be possible only under unusual conditions, 
since the amazon ants are very rare and local in their occurrence. 
WiLL1AM Morton WHEELER. 
CIRCULATING INSECT COLLECTIONS. 
A notable addition to the circulating school collections is the 
special insect collection, fifty sets of which have been prepared. 
Each collection consists of four trays, 9 x 7 x 1$ inches, which 
are made so that they can be removed from the transportation 
case and passed around the class. The first tray shows the life 
history of the Cecropia Moth, comprising eggs, caterpillar, 
chrysalis, cocoon and adult. Since it is impossible to preserve 
the caterpillar in a lifelike condition, there has been substituted 
for it a hand-colored lifesize photograph showing a caterpillar 
on the twig of an alder, one of the many plants upon which it 
feeds. This photograph serves as a background for the group. 
To one of the leaves are attached the eggs, and the moth is 
mounted as if alighting on the alder twig. The second tray 
contains the development of the Monarch or Milkweed Butterfly 
for comparison with the Cecropia. A hand-colored photograph 
from life shows the caterpillar (natural size) feeding on a spray 
of milkweed. In the third tray is shown the life and work of the 
Honey Bee. The series contains queen, drone, worker, larva, 
pupa, drone cells, section of drone cells, worker cells, section 
of worker cells, queen cells, wax, propolis, artificial foundation, 
honeycomb ready to receive the honey, cells filled with honey 
and a vial of pure honey. The fourth tray shows the household- 
insects and contains fourteen species of our most common house- 
hold pests, including the house-fly, roach, clothes moth, mosquito 
and some species particularly familiar in crowded tenement dis- 
tricts. The notes which accompany each collection give the 
habits and economic importance of the insects, and, in the case 
of the household pests, the best methods of exterminating them. 
