NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 89 



would be interesting to hear if a similar habit has been noticed in any 

 subfamily other than the ^Slschninfe. — W. J. L.] 



Setting Relaxed Insects. — In the last volume of the ' Entomologist ' 

 (xxxii. 307) Mr. A. H. Rydon asked a question as to the use of cement 

 in setting relaxed insects to avoid springing. The method I have 

 always adopted — and I have set many hundreds of relaxed insects — is 

 to let well alone. If they are well relaxed, and allowed to dry 

 thoroughly on the boards, I do not think Mr. Rydon will find any 

 trouble from springing. — J. C. Warburg. 



British Orthoptera. — I am engaged in collecting material for a 

 detailed account of the Orthoptera of Great Britain and the Channel 

 Islands, and would very gratefully receive notes as to localities, habits, 

 dates of appearance, &c., from different parts. List of captures from 

 Ireland would be especially welcome. — Malcolm Burr; Dormans 

 Park, East Grinstead ; February, 1900. 



Collecting and Rearing Dragonflies, &c. — In a short paper, pub- 

 lished during 1899 by the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, U.S.A., 

 Dr. J. G. Needham gives some interesting directions for collecting and 

 rearing dragonflies, stoneflies, and mayflies from the nymph. For 

 this purpose he divides the nymphs into three groups — (a) those that 

 live on the bottom ; (b) those living above the bottom in still or slowly 

 flowing water ; and (c) those living in the rapids of streams — and 

 naturally considers that special methods of collecting are required for 

 each group. 



For those living on the bottom a garden-rake is suggested to bring 

 to the bank the loose material contauiing them, especially in small 

 bays and eddies or similar spots ; but for mud-loving species a sieve 

 fastened to the end of a long handle is better. Members of the 

 second group may be taken in ordinary dredging nets ; but for those 

 inhabiting rapid streams a large net is to be used, and in conjunction 

 with it an instrument consisting of a long handle, terminated at one 

 end by a brush having on its back two hooks. This instrument is used 

 to overturn stones and then brush off the insects, which are carried 

 by the stream into the net held just below. The captures are to be 

 taken home in wet water-weed in a pail. Should imagines be found 

 emerging or on the point of doing so, they and the nymphs are to be 

 placed in distended paper bags, to contain which, as each nymph will 

 require a separate bag, a basket is to be taken to the collecting-ground. 

 No doubt these suggestions are admirable ; but unless the ditch or 

 pond is situated near one's back garden the transportation of the 

 impedimenta would be a serious undertaking. 



Dr. Needham suggests breeding nymphs under their natural con- 

 ditions by pressing down into the mud, in shallow water, a cylinder, 

 about fifteen inches high, made of close-meshed galvanised wire. The 

 cylinder must be closed at the top with a lid of the same material, and 

 of course the cage must be hidden "away from the eyes of the untutored 

 and irreverent." But something of this kind, to be used in a somewhat 

 different manner, has been suggested before by Mr. Marshman Wattson, 

 who, in England, has paid a good deal of attention to breeding some 

 of the dragonfly nymphs. He has contrived a smaller cylinder of 



