157 



should be put up in a small corked glass tube full of spirit, the necessary 

 particulars, with, if possible, a reference to pinned specimens of the 

 perfect insect, being written in pencil on a scrap of paper and placed 

 inside. The tubes should be packed for transmission inside a larger 

 bottle of spirit, as described at the end of the previous paragraph." 



FIELD NOTES. Specimens of Tsetse-flies, and of their larvae and 

 pupae, should so far as possible be accompanied by clearly-written 

 notes : date, hour and place of collection ; animal upon which the 

 fly was feeding ; name of collector ; colour of the living insect ; and 

 an} T other biological detail such as those dealt with in the foregoing 

 pages distribution ; seasonal abundance ; proportion of the sexes ; 

 migrations ; breeding places, etc., etc. When specimens are pinned, 

 labels should be attached to the pins; in the case of specimens in 

 small boxes, labels should be gummed on the lids, or placed inside. 



NUMBER OF SPECIMENS OF EACH SPECIES REQUIRED. " At least 

 half a dozen specimens of each sex of a species should, if possible, always 

 be obtained, and a good look-out should be kept for specimens showing 

 any abnormality in structure, coloration, or size. When the collector 

 remains long enough in one spot, he should always endeavour to obtain 

 specimens of a species on different dates, in such a way as to throw as 

 much light as possible on the duration of its seasonal occurrence. 

 Similarly the attempt should be made to illustrate the geographical 

 range or local distribution of a species, by collecting specimens in as 

 many different localities as possible. Specimens of species taken in 

 new localities, though common elsewhere, will always be valuable." 



ATTACKS BY ANTS OR TERMITES. THE EFFECTS OF MOULD. " In 

 the tropics and hot countries generally, boxes of pinned insects are 

 very liable to the attacks of minute ants, which, if they once gain access 

 to a box unobserved, will soon play havoc with its contents. In 

 Brazil it has been found that ants can be prevented from entering 

 insect-boxes by smearing the outside round the line where the box 

 opens, or any other possible place of entrance, with andiroba oil, 

 repeating the process as often as necessary ; similar methods might 

 be employed elsewhere in case of need. An even more certain mode of 

 securing immunity from ants is to stand the legs of a table on which 

 insect-boxes are kept in vessels (e.g., tobacco tins) containing water. 

 The table legs must not touch the sides of the vessels, and the top must 

 nowhere be in contact with a wall. To prevent mosquito-breeding, 

 the water in the vessels, which must not be allowed to evaporate, 

 should be kept covered with a thin film of paraffin." 



In damp tropical countries, another good mode of protecting 

 collections from the attacks of ants and termites consists of the employ- 

 ment of drying cages, suspended from the ceiling of a hut or roof of a 

 tent. A cage of this kind can easily be made out of an empty packing- 

 case, and a few sheets of fine-meshed wire gauze to form the front and 

 back. The cords from which the cage is hung should pass through 

 small calabashes containing oil, or, better still, filled with naphthaline, 

 to prevent destructive insects from descending from the ceiling and 

 attacking the specimens. Such a cage should be capable of being 

 easily taken to pieces, and should be about 20 in. long, 12 in. high and 

 8 in. broad. 



" Mould, however, is an even greater enemy to collections of Tsetse- 

 flies. Pinned specimens of Glossina, like those of other insects, rapidly 



