258 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
until, with a brace made of a strip of card shorter than the 
table, and pierced through at one end with a pin, the wings 
are secured in their proper position. The last process is to 
arrange the antenne. This can sometimes be done by 
placing them on the end of the table on which the wings are 
spread; but, in the majority of cases, it must be done with 
pins. ‘The time necessary for insects to remain on the 
setting-boards depends upon a variety of circumstances. I 
am here alluding only to insects recently caught. In the 
height of summer, if. dry and hot, a fortnight may do for 
small or slender insects, but I seldom remove any so soon. 
Bombi should, even in hot, dry weather, remain at least a 
month, and at other times must be left five or six weeks, or 
the wings will be apt, in damp weather, to fall out of 
position.”—Lrederick Smith. 
Life-history of the Pear-tree Slug. By Epwarp NEWMAN. 
by 
THE “ potato-bug” seems reluctant to cross the Atlantic, 
and the panic it engendered is dying out, in spite of the 
energy which some practised scribe or expert conversationist 
will occasionally strive to maintain or renew the excitement. 
As if purposely to avail itself of the procrastination of this 
coy and somewhat problematical mischief-maker, a real 
insect grievance has taken up its abode in our midst, and 
seems to demand serious attention. ‘Ihe pear-tree slug is a 
reality, tangible, palpable, visible, smellable,—for it appeals 
most forcibly to the olfactory organs. 
Mr. Fitch, to whom allusion will be made again hereafter, 
‘in defence of the slug against this charge, thinks that the 
smell is only emitted under circumstances of provocation, 
and may possibly be protective only,—a sort of warning to 
the aggressor not to taste a creature whose scentis so offensive, 
lest he should find the flavour as repugnant to his palate as 
the odour to his olfactory organs. ‘This kind of protection is 
possessed by the larve of many other sawflies. 
Complaints as to the burnt-up appearance of our pear-trees, 
—and, by the way, of our cherry-trees as well—inquiries as 
to the cause; and a plethora of infallible remedies, with 
polysyllabic and for the most part unpronounceable names, 
r 
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