THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



11 



insects whose ravages are often very destructive to the herbarium, it is a wise 

 precaution to brush over the specimen with a solution of corrosive sublimate 

 in spirits of wine, laid on with a camel's-hair brush at the time of mounting. 

 J t it also necessary in case any marauders may have escaped, or intruded at a 

 later stage, to go over the whole of the plants at least once a year. Their 

 depredations are easily detected from the dust left as the debris of their des- 

 truction. Camphor placed amongst the specimens may help to repel the 

 attacks of fresh invaders, but as the eggs may have been laid in the plant 

 before it was gathered at all, it is necessary to exercise a careful watch over 

 fresh specimens. 



In the permanent disposal of the specimen, a good deal depends upon the 

 length of purse of the collector. Some prefer to enshrine them in tastefully 

 bound volumes, an expensive, although, in certain respects, a very convenient 

 fashion. Others again choose to keep them in loose sheets, in drawers in a 

 cabinet prepared for the purpose, also very good if space is no object. But 

 perhaps the most easily available plan is to enclose each natural order in a 

 double sheet of stout brown paper, a little larger than the mounting paper, 

 so that it can be folded over at the edges to exclude the dust, and secured 

 with a pin or a string. Some of the larger natural orders may require to be 

 divided into two or more parcels. But if they are each numbered, and the 

 name of the order written on the outside, a plant is easily found when wanted. 



Bishop Auckland. 



APTEROUS FEMALES. 



By C. B. CROSS. 



Mr. Pierce has proved by the aid of the microscope that apterous is wrongly 

 applied, as the word means entirely void of wings, but he has failed to prove 

 they ever had fully devoloped wings. 



Mr. Pierce ridicules the idea of the male carrying his wingless mate, and 

 refers me to the house-fly carrying his mate. Now the house-fly is a poor 

 illustration, as it almost helpless in this position and easily captured, whereas 

 these moths differ from all other lepidoptera, as any others are a sure prize 

 when we find any of them in copula, but the four species I have referred to 

 never seem fully alive but when paired, as they are easily taken when alone. 

 I still believe they are as originally formed, and never had fully developed 

 wings, but stumps. iVJ y opinion is that their wingless state is a provision in 

 nature to keep the species within limits. Such breeding capacity, I may say 

 such an egg-bag, to migrate at will, would soon make the species plagues, as 



