94 NOTES ON COLEOPTERA, ETC. 
2.—Modes of Killing, Preservation, and Setting.—The most’ merciful 
way of killing all invertebrate animals is by boiling water, and, if it is 
wished to set the beetles caught at once, it must be the method adopted ; 
for very delicately formed Coleoptera and Hemiptera it is by far the 
best plan in any case; but laurel is the great agent. A few words may 
be spent on this subject with advantage, as the proper use of laurel seems 
very seldom understood. Only the young shoots and leaves must be 
used, and these must be gathered on a dry sunny day, as if gathered wet 
the beetles will soon turn mouldy. The laurel must be chopped very 
fine and kept tightly corked. Beetles killed in laurel cannot be set at 
once, but must be kept for three or four days or more in the laurel until 
the collector finds that they are thoroughly relaxed. If a jar of good dry 
chopped laurel be kept, and after each day’s work the beetles obtained 
be removed from the bottles and placed in muslin bags, and laid in the 
jar, they will keep for any length of time. They must, however, be 
given air every now and then, and the laurel examined for mould; with 
a little care, however, in this way, they will be quite fit to set a year or 
more after their capture. For setting, two camel’s hair brushes—one 
blunt, the other with a hard fine point—a pin with a bent point, some 
gum tragacanth, and some card with a slightly rough surface are 
required. When the beetle wished to be mounted is thoroughly relaxed 
lay it on its back, brush out its legs and antennz with the blunt brush, 
put a little gum on the card, take up the beetle with the hard brush, lay 
it on the card, brush the legs and antenne into their natural positions, 
cut the beetle out, and insert a pin through the card behind it, not how- 
ever too near the body; raise the card half-an-inch up the pin, and the 
specimen, after a thorough drying, will be fit for the box or cabinet. The 
larger species must not be carded, but pinned through the right elytron, 
-and not through the thorax. 
The third point, that of localities, would here take up too much 
space, so I will continue the subject in another paper. 
I would, however, mention that the best books for all students of 
Coleoptera and Hemiptera are the following :—‘‘ Rye’s British Beetles,” 
which may be obtained for 7s. 6d., from Mr. Joel Rowsell, 9, King 
William Street, Strand, London, a very useful book for beginners ; 
*¢ Cox’s Handbook of Coleoptera,” 2 vols., 17s. 6d.; ‘‘ Saunders’ Synopsis 
of the British Hemiptera,” price 5s. The two last may be obtained from 
Mr. E. W. Janson, 35, Little Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London. 
RARE ORNITHOLOGICAL OCCURRENCES IN 
SOUTH LEICESTERSHIRE. 
BY THOMAS MACAULAY, M.R.C.S.L., KIBWORTH. 
I send the following ornithological notes in the hope that they may 
act asa stimulus to others to make observations in this most interesting 
subject, and report upon them in the ‘‘ Midland Naturalist.” 
The district over which these observations extend is a very limited 
one, and moreover is little calculated to yield fruitful results by reason 
