46 



The BRITISH NATURALIST. [Februarv 



cases the colours may be preserved by cutting open the underside of 

 the abdomen and carefully removing the contents. In the case of 

 C. annulatus it will be well to drop in a little benzole, and then absorb 

 it with carbonate of magnesia, as with greasy moths. After cleaning 

 out, they should be stuffed with a little cotton wool to preserve the 

 shape. It is always an advantage to keep them alive for a few days 

 before killmg them, that the abdomen may become emptied of its 

 contents. L. depressus, C.vivgo and splendens, L . sponsa, P. pennipes, 

 and ^. minimum do not fade much. I always kill them by dropping 

 a little chloroform on the underside of the thorax. 

 164^ Stamford Hill, N. 



NOTES FOR BEGINNERS.— MICRO LARVAE 



FOR THE MONTH. 



GEO. ELISHA, F.E.S. 



We can still find plenty to do during F'ebruary, in getting 

 completed all those numberless little matters that were put aside 

 when time was far too valuable to give them other than a passing 

 thought, and what a boon it seems, after a very busy season, when 

 this period of well earned leisure arrives, when we can take it easy, 

 with plenty of time to get through all we have to do in preparing for 

 another campaign. 



It often occurs to me, especially during the height of the season, 

 how hard we work at our pleasures, and what a lot of trouble we 

 take, and how many miles we travel to attain our object, the very 

 little leisure (if any) we get during some few months, when species 

 are emerging all around us, and when returning home after an outing 

 with all our boxes filled, we find lots of good things out in our cages, 

 we have to settle down to the uncongenial work of setting, it is at 

 such times we are very apt to think that our study is not altogether 

 an unalloyed pleasure, and we occasionally find' ourselves wondering 

 how it is we work thus hard, when we might do otherwise. This is a 

 question very difficult to answer, for no matter what we resolve at 

 such times, we find ourselves doing the same- thing the following 

 season; but it is just the chance of finding and occasionally breeding 

 a rare or new species, that makes us forget the inevitable drudgery 

 of setting, which so surely follows a successful season of larvae 

 collecting, there is also another powerful factor to reckon with, and 

 that is an indescribable feeling of inw^ard pleasure that only those who 

 are earnest, studious workers, so constantly experienced when 

 observing the many interesting and ever varying phases in the life 



