APHOEISMATA ENTOMOLOGICA. 27 



into the grass beneath or at some little distance. In this way, some 

 years since, I procured a very large number of splendid specimens of the 

 Tryphcena Fimbria, then thought a very rare and valuable insect^, and in 

 ^^The Naturalist/' old series, volume ii., pages 83-4-5, I gave an account 

 of the whole mode of procedure and its results, recording how, in plain 

 prose, when divers entomologists adopted the plan, which, as far as I 

 know, was the invention of Mr. Hagh Reid, of Doncaster, the coppices 

 resounded again with the ^^kicks of the sturdy entomologists" — poetically 

 speaking — "how bowed the woods beneath their sturdy stroke." 



Another means of relaxing specimens, though, in my opinion, by no 

 means so effective as that hereinbefore described, is by means of bruised 

 laurel leaves. The following is the method adopted, as given in the 

 "Zoologist," pages ISIS-W: — 



Mr. J. W. Douglas, of 6, Grenville Terrace, Coburg Road, Kent 

 Eoad, London, writes, "A quantity of laurel leaves, (thirty or forty,) 

 is much bruised, put into a bag, and enclosed in an air-tight vessel; 

 on the bag are placed the insects wished to be relaxed, and they become 

 flexible in a few hours, more or less, according to their size. The ad- 

 vantages of this system are, that the insects may be left for any length 

 of time without getting mouldy, and that moths of a green colour or 

 delicate texture may be operated upon without injury, none of which 

 were possible on the old plan. It is somewhat singular that this 

 relaxing effect should be produced by laurel leaves, which contain a large 

 amount of prussic acid, because if an insect be killed by that poison, 

 its membranes become intensely rigid." 



In the following article, Mr. Samuel Stevens, of 38, King Street, 

 Covent Grarden, London, says in like manner, ^^Through the kindness 

 of Mr. Dale, I have been informed of a most excellent method of 

 relaxing Lepidoptera and other insects, and having adopted it lately, 

 and fiading it answer uncommonly well, I think it will be a great 

 benefit to entomologists to make the plan generally known. I procure 

 about a dozen shoots with the leaves of the common laurel, the younger 

 the better, put them into a coarse bag or cloth, (a shot-bag I use,) 

 bruise them well with a wooden mallet till the bag becomes quite 

 moist, then put it into a jar or other wide-mouthed glass vessel, and 

 stick the insects on the top of the bag, which must be tied over or 

 secured in some way, so that it be made perfectly air-tight. Twenty- 

 four hours are generally sufficient to relax most insects, but one great 

 advantage is, that if they remain a week or ten days in the laurel 



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