APH0EIS3IATA ENTOMDLOGICA. 173 



further information, and I give the result to the readers of my " ArnoBissiAiA" 

 — "Aphorismi," by the way, my brother told me it should have been; but as 

 he took his "First Class" at Oxford in 1849, "Term: Pasch:" and I my 

 "Second" so long ago as "Term: ilicli :" 1833; when, I may here record, I 

 took up part of "Pliny's Xatural History" for the first time in that learned 

 University, to the no small astonishment and discomfiture of the Examiners 

 'In Literis Huraauioribus,' I trust my said readers will pardon me the 'lapsus,' 

 and at the same time this lengthened and somewhat involved sentence. 



But 'ad rem:' Mr. Robert Downie furnishes me, and through me my readers, 

 with the following list of apparatus which he is always ready to furnish, and 

 which, as I truly believe they will be found good and useful, as well as cheap, 

 I heartily recommend to all who are desirous of the proper preservation of their 

 specimens. I give the whole of his catalogue, as well as the part relating to 

 the books, through the desire to benefit a person who seems to be a deserving 

 man: — • 



1. — "An improved book box, which excludes the air and dust from the insects, 

 covered with green book cloth, gilt labels, corked top and bottom, sixteen 

 inches by twelve; the same as those made by mo for the British iluseum, and 

 when shut up they resemble two volumes of a book: twelve shillings each. 



2. — The next size, finished in the same style, and corked top and bottom, 

 thirteen inches by nine and a half: seven shillings. 



3. — Deal store boxes, corked top and bottom, sixteen inches by fourteen: 

 eight shillings. If made for foreign insects, one shilling extra. 



4. — Mahogany collecting boxes, from four shillings and upwards. 



5. — A drying safe or box, with four trays corked, a drawer with divisions 

 for pins, perforated zinc front and back, look and key complete : twelve shillings 

 and sixpence. 



6. — An improved whalebone net, which answers all the purposes of sweeping, 

 beating, or for collecting insects on the wing: reduced to twelve shillings and 

 si.vpence. It is portable, and shuts up in a case like an umbrella. 



Sheets of prepared cork for cabinet drawers, sixteen inches square: two 

 shillings each. 



All kinds of boxes and apparatus on improved principles made to order: 

 prices in proportion as stated above" 



I need only remark in conclusion that while a cabinet, especially if a large 

 one, is ratlier an expensive affair, the drawers costing ten shillings each, the 

 books, on the principle of a division of labour, or rather of spreading an 

 expense over a longer time, cause it to be hardly felt. One more last word: 

 I recommend the books to be kept upwards, as if on a sliolf and not on 

 their sides, for otherwise that which is a detriment to the preservation of 

 insects in ordinary boxes, will exist here also, namely, the dust will fall from 

 the specimens on the upper side, and lod^e on those on the lower one. 



