72 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



By this method, the drawers are cat up into little squares, each large enough to hold 

 a series together with the caterpillar, ichneumons, etc. One can put a good deal of taste 

 into the arrangement and the effect is certainly good. Outside of looks, I do not know 

 that the system has anything to recommend it. Of course with white cards, the drawer 

 covering must be colored : we employ a rough buff wall paper. 



I am asked for some remarks on inflating and wing bleaching. Many books give 

 instructions, but for novices it may be said that caterpillars are inflated or blown by 

 slightly cutting the anal orifice, ventrally, squeezing everything out by the hole so made 

 while holding them between the fingers in a soft cloth ; binding a tube in this hole and 

 drying them, inflated by a current of hot air. It is well to have a piece of blotting 

 paper to absorb the drop or two of liquid ejected when the cut is first made, and care 

 must be taken to clean the neck Neglect of this makes an ugly black blotch. 



Benzine is the best thing for killing, as some kind3 of caterpillars seem to fatten on 

 chloroform. The stripping and drying should be done immediately the caterpillar is 

 dead. If not, it draws up into all sorts of knots, and if left until relaxed, is too tender. 

 Partially dry the skin before giving it much air pressure or it will get out of shape, and 

 stiffen up the tail end before paying much attention to the head. 



I never could make much success of the straw recommended by experts, and always 

 use a glass tube drawn to a point to furnish the air. Lap it with silk three or four time", 

 run slightly into the caterpillar, make a turn or so in front of the last pair of legs and 

 fasten the silk back on the tube. With very small things, this glass can afterwards be 

 cut off by a file, and a headless pin, bent at right aneles, stuck in with a drop of gum. 

 Larger species should be slipped off by the thumb nail and pinned through the middle. 



The less heat used, the better will be results. A lamp chimney fastened horizon- 

 tally on a metal coat hook, makes a first class oven. And a candle is the best source of 

 heat as by snuffing it the temperature can be regulated. The flame should be kept at least 

 two inches below the oven, and the segments you are working held over the hottest place. 

 Druggists sell a double bulb inflator now, which is much better than the breath for giving 

 the empty skin its shape. 



In bleaching wings, to show the veins, the only suggestion I can offer is the use of 

 wood rather than common alcohol for washing. The oil in it increases the transparency. 

 If bleaching has not been described in past Reports, the wings are torn or snapped off 

 close to the body, soaked a minute in alcohol, and then, to remove the color, in Labaraque 

 solution. When clear, wash again in alcohol, dip in water and mount on a card. 



THE BROWN-TAIL MOTH (Euprocti* chrysorrhoea, L.). 



By Dr. James Fletcher, Ottawa. 



The specimens of the new pest of fruit and forest trees in Massachusetts which I 

 am able to show to-day, have been kindly supplied for this purpose by Mr. A. H. Kirk- 

 land of the Gipsy Moth Committee. They consist of the male and female moths, the 

 egg mass, the full-grown larva and the hibernaculum in which the larvae pass the winter. 



This insect is well known in Europe and has about the same range as the Gipsy 

 Moth. Thirty years ago, when I was a boy, it was not an uncommon species for one season 

 at Rochester, Kent, in the south of England, but I learn that it is now rare. The first 

 notice of its occurrence in America was when Prof. Fernald announced that he had been 

 working on it in Massachusetts in 1897, but it had been noticed by some for four or five 

 years before that date. It is thought to have been imported with nursery stock perhaps 

 as early as 1885. Early last spring it was sufficiently abundant for Mr. Kirkland to 



