o fJaniuiry, 



brush up with a camel's hair pencil, it is always advisable to give them 

 a final spraying with ether, fanning the while to assist evaporation, 

 with a spray apparatus, the bellows part of which will be useful for 

 preserving larvae according to Lord Walsingham's plan. 



Mr. Edmunds, of Windsor, with whom my advertisement for 

 greasy Lepidoptera has brought me into correspondence, informs me 

 that he has for some time past used the Chloride of Ethyl {Chlorure 

 d'Ethyle) for renovating specimens, and he kindly sent me a most 

 ingenious little instrument containing it, consisting of a test tube, the 

 mouth end of which is drawn out into a fine tube and bent to form a 

 blowpipe. When required for use the tip of the elongated part has 

 to be broken off and the body of the test tube held in the fist, when 

 the warmth of the hand causes the contents to be ejected in the form 

 of spray ; its wonderful solvent powers and the rapidity with which 

 it volatilizes raise the pile of the fur of the specimen sprayed in an 

 astonishing manner. In another communication my correspondent, 

 whose experience in cleansing insects with benzine must be immense, 

 writes me as follows : — " On the 10th of this month (November) I had 

 no good Sphecia crahroniformis left, but some hundred greasy speci- 

 mens. I put a dozen up in a test tube and filled it with ansesthetic 

 ether, and left them till the 18th. I have noticed in these specimens 

 that the ether has entirely dissolved the whole contents of the bodies, 

 and I must say left them in lovely condition. I gave two baths of 

 ether to cleanse them from the first ether, and they dried out lovely 

 and cannot possibly grease again. I think they are the most successful 

 specimens 1 have touched. To-morrow I intend to put a lot of species 

 to the test, for in these crahroniformis the entire contents of the ab- 

 domina have dissolved and formed a heavy sediment in the eight days 

 ether. Benzoline does not do this, it will kill grease, but not dissolve 

 the contents of the body." 



If the fore part of this paper excites discussion it will have served 

 its purpose ; as for the latter part, it will give me great pleasure to 

 afford any information in my power as to details, either privately, or, 

 if of BuiEcient interest, publicly in your pages. 



I take this opportunity to again thank those gentlemen who have 

 so kindly assisted me by supplying me with the greasy material which 

 has enabled me to satisfy myself as to the vast superiority of ether 

 over benzine, and of the non-necessity for any external mutilation of 

 specimens. 



Camden Eoad : Becemher, 1893. 



