THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 2*29 



trying experiments in this direction, and I should wish for 

 assistance from some of your scientific contributors; all will 

 admit that, in such case, " prevention is better than cure." 

 Crotchet 3: — Might not camphor, in our cabinet-drawers, be 

 superseded by a tuft of cotton-wool with a drop or two of the 

 oil of cajeput on it: the odour of this essential oil is less dis- 

 agreeable, and, 1 believe, is quite as efficient as camphor; it 

 is less fugitive ; and last, but not least, costs a good deal 

 less than camphor. — S. Radcliff Fetherstonhaugh ; 17, Eccles 

 Street, Diihllu, December 7, -1870. 



[Crotchet 1 : — With regard to strychnia I doubt whether 

 there is any advantage in employing it, when our means 

 of killing insects are so perfect and our choice so extensive. 

 A glance at Mr. Greene's invaluable * Companion ' will satisfy 

 every enquirer on this point. Crotchets 2 and 3 I combine, 

 because the subject of discussion seems, of necessity, one and 

 the same. Camphor and grease are inseparable, cause and 

 effect : you cannot use camphor without having grease : it is 

 better to have neither. On the continent camphor is rarely 

 used; in England, Mr. Doubleday's collection, the neatest 

 and cleanest I have ever seen, is never camphored : I should 

 as soon expect to see him pour train-oil into his drawers as 

 introduce a lump of camphor. The collection under ray own 

 care is never camphored now ; but it was formerly, as sodden 

 patches of grease in the drawers abundantly testify. I assume 

 that camphor is intended as a preventive against the attacks 

 of Acari, Psoci, Ptini, and Tineas, all of which delight in the 

 mortal remains of insects ; but I am not, at present, a believer 

 in spontaneous generation. I do not see how a brood of mites 

 can enter and establish themselves in my drawer of Noto- 

 donta), sponte sua, any more than a herd of elephants can, 

 sponte sua, make their appearance in my cockney garden, 

 where they would, I think, be inconveniently crowded, should 

 such a spontaneous generation take place. This is one o^my 

 crotchets, although I am fully aware the " British Association 

 for the Advancement of Science" bids fair to rule otherwise. 

 Well, then, not believing the tribe of mites can come of their 

 own accord, I take as much care as I can not to introduce 

 them by any act of my own. Supposing some kind entomo- 

 logist makes me a present of insects from a rnitey collection 

 I transfer them, box and all, to the oven, and allow them to 



