iSgo.] 



THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



II 



Cyanide bottle. Directly the fly is dead it should be operated upon 

 by cleaning out its stomach and abdomen, which can be done in the 

 following manner : — Obtain a long, fine darning-needle, thread it with 

 a short piece of thread, tie the ends together and in the loop thus 

 formed, place some soft darning-cotton the same colour as the pre- 

 dominent colour of the body, blue, yellow, or whatever it might be, 

 and according to the thickness of the body have two or more strands, 

 the needle should then be inserted between the forelegs and passed 

 through the entire length of the insect, pulling the cotton through un- 

 it has cleaned out the contents of the thorax and abdomen, cut off the 

 cotton at both ends, if the precaution is taken to damp the last portion 

 pulled through with Carbolic Acid no insect will attack it in the 

 cabinet, coloured floss silk may be used instead of cotton with advan- 

 tage, the insect is now ready for setting ; another great advantage in 

 preparing them this way, the abdomen does not drop off ; the smaller 

 species can be treated after the same fashion, but it is not necessary 

 to use the thread loop, simply thread the fine needle with the silk and 

 pass through as before. — G. C. Bignell, Stonehouse, Plymouth. 



Mr. J. Mackey in the Young Naturalist, Vol. VII., p. i68, speaks 

 highly of the method recommended by Mr. Bignell in a former com- 

 munication and repeated above. — J.E.R. 



Reports of Societies. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 



December ^rd, 1890. — The Right Hon. Lord Walsingham, M.A., F,R.S., President, 

 in the chair. 



Mr. John Gardner, of 6, Friar Terrace, Hartlepool ; and Mr. Samuel James 

 Capper, F.L.S., of Huyton Park, near Liverpool, were elected Fellows of the 

 Society. 



Dr. D. Sharp exhibited specimens of Papilio polites, P. erithoniiis, and Exiplaa 

 asela, received from Mr. J.J. Lister, who had caught them on board ship when near 

 Colombo, in November, 1888. Dr. Sharp read a letter from Mr. Lister, in which it 

 was stated that from the ship hundreds of these butterflies were seen flying out to sea 

 against a slight breeze. Many of them, apparently exhausted by a long flight, 

 alighted on the deck of the ship, and large numbers perished in the sea. 



