shall be glad to furnish you with any information you may want in regard to 

 Hemiptera. 



"Of course I shall be glad to receive what Hemiptera you have caught and 

 will send some of them back to you mounted and named for reference. But I 

 want to warn you against putting different orders of insects in the same bottle — 

 you have the trouble of going through them and picking them out later when you 

 want to dispose of the separate kinds. The best way to do this is to put the 

 whole lot into a white saucer, or a clear glass dish over white paper, the latter 

 being preferable. Then with a pincers, very soft and springy, so as not to have 

 to use much force to bring the ends together, you pick out your bugs right into 

 other bottles with fresh alcohol. Do not let anybody lead you into the temptation 

 of using formaldehyde instead of alcohol — this stuff makes insects preserved in it 

 hard and brittle and is therefore entirely unsuitable for this use. I feel pretty sure 

 that what you have in Hemiptera will turn out of use to me, as there is very little 

 California material to be had on account of there being no collectors of Hemiptera 

 in that state. So send them on as soon as you can, and be sure of my best thanks." 



PACKING BEETLES FOR SHIPMENT. 



Never place beetles in direct contact with cotton, for the legs, claws, and 

 appendages become entangled in the fibres of the cotton and are apt to be broken. 

 Put the beetles in layers of tissue paper between the layers of cotton. Relax 

 beetles, just as you do moths and butterflies, before packing, otherwise you will 

 be almost sure to break off delicate members and render the specimens imperfect. 

 Beetles must be packed so they will not jostle about. 



W. C. Dukes, of Mobile Alabama, places beetles between squares of surgeon's 

 lint from half an inch to two inches in size, according to the size of the specimens, 

 and folds these squares in a p.ece of heavy writing paper. If squares of lint are 

 small the paper may be, say, 3x4 inches. Fold each side of paper one-third of 

 the width and the folded paper will be an inch wide and four inches long. Place 

 the specimen between the squares of lint in the middle of this folded paper, fold 

 ends over each other the folds being a little way from the edges of the lint. The 

 paper thus folded will be, say, 1x1 Yl inches in size. Tuck one end into the 

 other and you have a firm, compact envelope. Lay the envelopes side by side on 

 their edges, not one above the other. Line your shipping box with cotton on 

 bottom, sides and ends. On the outside of each envelope write the number of 

 specimens contained therein with date, locality, and name. Small beedes may be 

 glued to a piece of paper or cardboard with common mucilage, somewhat thicker 

 than it is generally used. Small beetles are easily handled by using the moistened 

 end of a fine camel's hair brush. When possible, put them on the card in sets 

 of four, two males and two females. Place the cards between the pieces of lint. 

 Instead of lint you may use any soft material which does not have a decided pile. 

 Sheet wadding is excellent if lined with tissue pa:er. 



Rensselaer J. Smith, M. D., of Milpitas, Cal., uses paper pill boxes of suit- 

 able size, say an inch and one-half in diameter, each of which contains two circular 

 pieces of sheet-wadding and two pieces of circular tissue-paper, and between the 

 layers of tissue paper he puts the specimen. The sheet-waddins is, of course, 

 above and below the tissue paper. Pill boxes can be obtained by the gross at 

 any drug store at little cost. The circular pieces are cut in large quantities and 

 placed in the boxes ready for instant use. The beetle, or a number of beetles, if 

 they are small, can be placed between the layers of tissue-paper at the time they 



