6 _ [January, 



ments, allows bred insects to pair or to fly, it naturally follows, from 

 the above, that the males of those which have been reared in confine- 

 ment will contain most grease. 



Though grease is inherent in most if not all species from the egg 

 onwards, the ultimate amount may be considerable, moderate, or 

 trifling, and in the latter instances it may remain quiescent in a cold, 

 dry situation until, perchance, a too heated temperature, a damp atmo- 

 sphere, the relaxing box or laurel jar, or the vapour of camphor, 

 naphthaline, benzine, &c., brings it to the surface, where its manifesta- 

 tion becomes an eyesore and a nuisance, which, if not promptly attended 

 to, may cause much trouble aud annoyance. 



So much for grease : now for the cure. The extraction of moth- 

 grease made but little headway till the discovery of benzole marked 

 a new era in its progress. At first, probably from timidity as to the 

 effect the new detergent might have upon their specimens, collectors 

 but imperfectly carried out the process, and consequently met with 

 but partial success ; then the Eev. Joseph Greene conceived the heroic 

 idea of eviscerating his specimens through a triangular opening on 

 the under-side of the abdomen ; this, of course, was an effectual 

 preventive against any recurrence of the grease, though it was not an 

 improvement to the specimen. The next plan was that of Dr. Alex- 

 ander Wallace, who, by boiling out the grease in benzine heated on a 

 water bath, slitting the bodies occasionally where he considered it 

 necessary, instead of cutting out the triangular pieces, undoubtedly 

 advanced matters, but people felt shy of boiling such an inflammable 

 fluid as benzine, the vapour of which might, at any moment, cause an 

 explosion, and so it was not largely adopted. Of late, however, the 

 more effective and safe procedure of soaking the specimens or 

 their abdomina in repeated baths of benzine until every trace of grease 

 has been eradicated, has produced results as perfect as can possibly 

 be obtained from that liquid. 



There is, however, another fluid far cheaper than benzine, which 

 has at least double the power to extract moth-grease, and which has 

 the further merit of leaving the fur of the specimen fresh and bright, 

 owing to the rapidity with which it volatilizes. Its name is Methylated 

 Ether ; and why this has not hitherto been used for the purpose by 

 Entomologists is a puzzle to mc, for its action upon insect grease has 

 long been known to Chemists, by whom, indeed, it has been employed 

 to extract the unctuous active principle of the blistering beetle {Gan- 

 tharis vesicatoria) . Its superiority over benzine is easily demonstrated 

 by evaporating fluid containing moth-grease to the consistence of new 



