222 THE JiXTOMOLOGISl's REGOKD. 



iy tabulated, and i,rive>s a surprising result. Of Orthoptera of all sub- 

 orders, quantities drifted to the shore, mostly alive. All the Trttii/idac, 

 well known for their swimming powers, escaped ; of the LonixtodeOf 

 none survived, but of (iri/Uudca and Avruliodea, half only Avere killed. 

 Many dragonflies drifted along, and none survived. Of a number of 

 Cocci lU'U ((hie, Sairabaci/lav, ('hruaomclidac and larabulac, a good many 

 were dead, but of the survivors, only five per cent, were killed. Of the 

 Diptera, BumlnjUdac and Muscidae were all drowned, hut of the Axilidae^ 

 sixty per cent, escaped. All Hymenoptera reached the shore already 

 dead. In Hemiptera, all the Fcntainmidae were dead before approach- 

 ing the shore, l»ut of the Belustoniatidoc, themselves aquatic, ton per 

 cent, were killed, mostly by accident, as the majority were more or less 

 injured. Of :i quantity of caddis-flies, apparently of the genu* 

 tTlos.<o^^()iiia. which approached the shore mostly alive, ten ]i)er ceiit. 

 were killed. The volume is concluded l)y an article on " 'Hie Argyn- 

 nids of North America," by A, J, Snyder. 



The Eev. V. D. Morice" (Ent. Mo. Ma;f., July, 1900) advises ejito- 

 mologists Avhen collecting Hymenoptera to " al)andon cyanide and use 

 only pure sulphuric ether without alcohol." He says: "Hymenoptera 

 so killed, not only preserve absolutely their natural colours, even those 

 delicate yelloAvs which cyanide and ammonia almost always turn to 

 brown or red, but die in natural positions — not cramped and distorted 

 like the victims of the other methods — and are, even so obliging 

 usually as to open their mandibles and extend the whole cibarial 

 apparatus so that it can be examined without any preparation of the 

 specimen. These advantages and the perfect cleanness of specimen* 

 killed by etlter seem to me much more than enough to repay the 

 slight extra trouble and expense involved in using it. The one objec- 

 tion to ether is its rapid evaporation, but this can be met by carrying- 

 a small phial in the Avaistcoat pocket, from which a few fresh drops 

 can be supplied to the collecting-bottle from time to time as required, 

 and this should always be done as a c<nq)-dc-(iracc to finish oil' any- 

 possible survivors in the bottle when one returns from an expedition. 

 Then if the bottle be kept well-corked and unopened for an hour oi* so 

 the result is almost sure to be satisfactory," 



At the meeting of the Entom. Hoc, of London, held on June 6th, 

 1900, Sir G . V. Hampson exhibited specimens of a moth belonging to the 

 subfamily Hi/drocconiihiae of the I'tjralidac — (Jlifiontiriia aracaliHf 

 Hampson, from Ceylon — where his correspondent, Mr. J, Pole, had 

 met with a sAvarm on an islarul in a riA'er which he estimated at 

 20,000. Wheii disturbed the buzz made by their Avings Avas quite 

 audible, and after three waA'es of the net 286 specimens Avere bottled 

 from round its edges, the net still appearing quite full ; as in the 

 30 specimens sent the sexes Avere in almost even proportions, this Avas 

 not a case of male assemblage. He also exhibited denuded Avings, 

 shoAviug the neuration of Diacr}!<ia r/^ssiz/ri, Tiiriajacohiwar, ('alliiinirp/ia 

 hcra and ( '. dominida, the tAvo former being typical Arctiadar and agree- 

 ing Avith the definition of that family in the costal vein of tlie hindAving 

 anastomosing Avith the subcostal to half the length of th(> cell, Avhilst 

 in the tAvo latter and also in the eight or ten other kuoAvn species from 

 the oriental region the costal vein does not anastomose Avith the sub- 

 costal, but only connects Avith it at a point. He contended that th& 

 genus ('aJ/iiiiorjdia should therefore be removed from the Arctiadac and 



