KoEBucK : Study and Collecting of Hymenopteea. )53 



For the Clialcididae there is little other guide than Walker's 

 Motiugraphia Chalciditum. 



The large species of ichneumons can be killed and set in the same 

 manner as bees. The minute species should be dropped into boiling 

 water, when their wings will be naturally spread out, and need no 

 more setting. Then a card can be placed under them, lifted out and 

 left to dry. Afterwards the insects can be gummed to the points of 

 triangular card braces on pins. 



But if the collector cannot name his captures himself, he can, at all 

 events, by forming collections with accurate notes, do much for the 

 advancement of science by the accumulation of material for the men 

 who are further advanced than himself. And what glorious oppor- 

 tunities our lepidopterists have of making solid and inestimably 

 valuable contributions to the knowledge of this group, with very little 

 trouble to themselves, by the simple process of boxing and labelling 

 the ichneumons they breed, placing them afterwards in competent 

 hands. And if the lepidopterist does suffer annoyance, as he must, 

 at the appearance of an ichneumon instead of the rare moth for whose 

 advent he has waited so long and so anxiously, let him make the best 

 use of his misfortune by securing the offender, and, above all, let him 

 remember that the advancement of science is of far more moment 

 than the improvement of his collection. 



One thing I wish to lay great stress on is the importance of making 

 notes and of labelling all specimens with dates and localities. It is 

 only by the carrying out of this system that we can reap the fullest 

 benefit from our collecting, and I have long thought that our lepidop- 

 terists are much mistaken not to pay more attention to this important 

 point. 



I may here state that in the forthcoming report of the Entomo- 

 logical Section of the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union, the part devoted 

 to hymenoptera will include a complete list of all the Yorkshire species 

 known up to the present time, in the preparation of which Mr. 

 Frederick Smith, who is the best hymenopterist in Britain, if not in 

 the world, will have shared to a large degree. This will, consequently, 

 form a very convenient starting point for the researches of our York- 

 shire hymenopterists, of whom I should be happy to see a goodly 

 number in course of time, and to whom I should be happy to render 

 any assistance in my power. And if there are entomologists who, 

 though not intending to take up the study themselves, may yet be 

 willing to assist, I should be glad to take charge of any specimens 

 they may give me, and I believe that my friend Mr, S. D. Bairstow, 



