NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Dr. Moore sends the following addendum to his paper in last year's 

 Journal on the Attractions of Entomology. 



Further experience shows that the softening effect of heat makes 

 ''napthaplas" difficult to work with during the summer months when 

 insect life is most abundant. To overcome this defect the excellent 

 preservative, thymol, should be substituted for the napthalene, being 

 added to the plasticene in the proportion of I5 drams (90 grains) 

 thymol to 1 lb. plasticene. The resulting substance, which may be 

 called "thymoplas," retains the firm consistence of ordinary plasticene 

 •even when the temperature rises above 90° F. in the shade. 



Mr. Ernest E. Gomersall, University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, 

 (Wales), is collecting data on racial characteristics ; and in a letter to a 

 member of the Society says : — 



"My aim is to collect as much information as possible regarding 

 the racial characteristics and differences in the various districts or 

 provinces of China (particularly China Proper, at first), e.g. differences 

 in physique, height, build, features, shape of head, eye, nose, com- 

 plexion, colour of hair and eyes, manners, customs, dress, intelligence 

 and mode of life ; from which I wish to work out, if possible, where 

 distinct groups possessing special racial characteristics are located, and 

 to state in what ways one group is different from another. 



I should like much more definite information than I have already 

 ^gathered about the tribes of the west and south-west, e.g. : 



1. The distinction between the Lisus proper and the Black 

 Lisus, if any. 



2. The differences between the Black-boned or Liang Shan 

 Lolos and the Lolos to the south of the Yangtze, of whom one 

 writer says "they are considered to be serious rivals of the 

 Chinese in the struggle for the lands of Western China." 



3. Whether the independent Lolos of the left bank of the 

 upper Yangtze are the same people as the Liang Shan Lolos? 



4. Whether the Yunnan Lolos are descended from the same 

 branch as the Liang Shan Lolos, and where is their original 

 nidus, in N.E. Yunnan or S.E. Tibet, or both? 



