REMOVAL OF GREASE FROM MOTHS. 109 



gigantic proportions, look by far more like the denizens of the 

 tropics than of these Northern Isles. A good collection of these 

 handsome insects is indeed a grand sight to behold, and well 

 worth possessing. 



Although my little handbook has been the means of inducing 

 some hundreds of persons to take up the study of our native 

 dragonflies, a great many more could no doubt be drawn to them, 

 provided that an illustrated monograph of these beautiful and 

 interesting insects were published, giving a life-like figure of 

 every species and its varieties which are known to occur in the 

 British Isles, and I think the time is now quite ripe for such a 

 publication. Some five or six years ago I first seriously con- 

 templated preparing a work of the kind, and have fostered the 

 idea ever since. I have even gone so far as to pay a preliminary 

 visit to the Continent, in order to procure some necessary 

 material for such a work, much of which is difficult to obtain on 

 this side of the English Channel. I have, however, decided for 

 various reasons to abandon the project for an indefinite period. 

 But cannot someone else be found who could be induced to 

 undertake a monograph of our British Odonata ? I, for one, 

 should be very pleased to render every assistance in my power in 

 the promotion of such a project. 



Will you permit me, in conclusion, to ask those of your 

 readers who study these fine insects, to oblige me with local lists 

 of species, as I am endeavouring to elucidate their geographical 

 distribution in the British Isles, the result of which I hope to 

 publish in some future number of the ' Entomologist.' 



195, Ladywood Road, Birmingham. 



EEMOVAL OF GEEASE FEOM MOTHS. 



Me. Christy is right in suspecting (Entom., p. 33) that benzine would 

 be effective in removing grease from large insects and without opening the 

 body. For many years I have followed the plan recommended me by the 

 late Mr. Edward R. Pearson, late of Wallington, Northumberland. He, 

 in his turn, had it from an experienced entomologist, and I have no doubt 

 it is very generally l?nown and adopted. Mr. Pearson used benzoline, 

 which has this advantage over benzine collas, — it is far cheaper while being 

 equally efficient. Now for the plan : — 



1. Put the set and dried insect, without removing the body, into a 

 wide-mouthed bottle three parts filled with benzoline. The benzoline does 

 not at all relax the wings, &c., but thoroughly cleans them if greasy. Stop 

 the bottle with a well-sealed cork. The benzoline searches through and 

 through the body and dissolves the grease, which is taken up or held iu 

 solution, or deposited. 



2. After a few days — say a week in the case of Cossus ligniperda, Sesia 

 bembeciformis, or Dlcranura vinula — remove the insect into a second bottle 

 of benzoline. 



