UNIFORMITY IN PINNING LEPIDOPTERA. 231 



is a singular fact ; but I think parallel cases, perhaps equally 

 inexplicable, could be found as pathological occurrences. 



It is obvious that if these objects are really fungi, there is no 

 reason why they should not function as scent-producers — which 

 I believe is the office assigned to androconia in general—and in 

 this manner render a service to their host, and supply an addi- 

 tional reason for the belief in that particular form of parasitism 

 known as symbiosis. 



Will Mr. Scudder (or some other American entomologist) 

 kmdly inform us whether the "fungi" or ''androconia" of the 

 yellow variety of Pieris rapce are in any way modified as 

 compared with those of the ordinary white form ? 



3, Halifax Eoad, Cambridge. 



UNIFORMITY IN PINNING LEPIDOPTEBA. 



By N. F. Searancke, L.R.C.P. 



In the recent correspondence on setting and preserving moths 

 (Entom. xxviii. 303, 332; and xxix. 83, 125), I have been dis- 

 appointed at seeing two points which deserve more serious 

 consideration only mentioned casually, i. e. the necessity of 

 having a standard of height of setting, and a way to procure 

 absolute evenness of height. Too much is left to guess-work 

 and individual fancy on these two points. 



. Every collector whose series are filled up from different 

 sources must, after a time, come to regard his collection with a 

 feeling akin to dissatisfaction. Each individual moth may be 

 without reproach as regards setting, &c., but the tout ensemble 

 leaves much to be desired, owing to the various heights of setting 

 fancied by different collectors. Some have the wings touching 

 the paper of the drawer, some are half-way up, and others right 

 up at the top of the pin, giving the whole a ragged and untidy 

 appearance. The text -books are not very clear on the subject ; 

 and as some collectors will prefer one style and some another, 

 if much exchanging is done the above unsatisfactory state of 

 affairs is bound to happen sooner or later. Discrepancy in 

 height cannot always be overcome by bringing the higher ones 

 down to the level of the lower ; nor is the necessary force 

 required to stick them deeply in the cork unattended with risk 

 to pin and moth. 



Could not some leading entomologist lay down a standard of 

 height at which the various-sized insects ought to be set, either 

 in parts of an inch or in millimetres? It is no use saying, 

 " Stick the pin through the moth till there is as much under- 

 neath as above," as all collectors do not use the same sized pins 



