228 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



S. lunaria were also taken by other members of the Club. — 

 TV. Milling; 15, St. Marifs Terrace, Jesmond Road, New- 

 castle-on-Tyne, December 5, 1870. 



Char idea Delpltinii in Norfolk Crescent. — About six 

 years ago I took a Noctua in the garden of Norfolk Crescent, 

 which order of insects 1 do not collect. On showing it to a 

 collector he told me it was Chariclea Delphinii, and asked me 

 to forward the fact to your well-known magazine. — T. A. 

 Taylor ; 23, Norfolk Crescent., November 30, 1870. 



[Probably introduced by the transmission of European 

 plants to some nursery garden. — Edward Newman.] 



Strychnia and CampJior Crotchets. — A few crotchets have 

 possessed me, which I much desire to have either dispelled 

 or confirmed by yourself or some of the other entomological 

 luminaries that avail themselves of your pages. Crotchet 1 : — 

 "Why has not strychnia been adopted as a killing agent for 

 lepidopterous insects ? I propose to use a solution of it in 

 spirit, for the purpose of killing insects by the usual thoracic 

 "stab : the wonderful power of this poison to destroy insect- 

 life is evidenced by its extensive use in the very diluted form 

 of fly-paper ; but my crotchet is that, by its diffusive power, 

 this poison, when thus introduced into the thorax of a living 

 insect, would effectually ward ofi' all future attacks of mites 

 or other cabinet-pests from any portion of a specimen so 

 killed, without recourse being necessary to bichloride of 

 mercury, camphor, oil of cajeput, or any of the other 

 preventives usually adopted. 1 have heard it asserted that 

 the thousandth part of a grain of strychnia will kill a frog; 

 if so, who can calculate how small a portion will kill or dis- 

 agree with a mite. Doubtless the consequent tetanus or 

 extreme rigidity of the specimen may be raised as an 

 objection to this mode of killing; but immediate setting, the 

 laurel-jar, or the dam])-sand box will meet that difficulty ; 

 and if my crotchet of the diffusive power of the poison be 

 well founded, it is worthy of a trial. Crotchet 2 : — Grease, 

 although the delight of cooks, is a terrible drawback to the 

 pleasures of an insect collector; and I cannot but think the 

 remedies hitherto ])roposed almost transcend the disease. It 

 has occurred to me that a small orifice might be made in the 

 abdomens of oleaginous species, and some chemical absorbent 

 applied so soon as the insects leave the setting-board. I am 



