244 
THE WEEKLY ENTOMOLOGIST. 
catch baggies.” In canals I find 
but little to repay me for my trouble, 
probably because the water is 
usually deep at the sides, but doubt- 
less those where the banks slope 
gradually in will repay a search. 
So much for water beetles. Necrop- 
haga are very plentiful in Autumn, 
and I can recommend a plan com- 
municated to me by a friend some 
years ago, as well worthy of a trial. 
Take some ordinary wide mouthed 
pickle bottles, and in each of them 
drop a piece of the lungs of a bullock, 
large enough to fill them one fourth 
part. Then taking them into the 
nearest meadow or garden, if you 
have one, bury them upright in the 
ground, taking care that the mouth 
of the bottle be on a level with the 
surrounding earth. Visit them daily 
(pulling them out of their bed first 
thing in the morning), and turning 
their contents out on an old plate, 
pick out from the reeking mass 
beetles ad libitum. You may, occa- 
sionally with advantage vary the 
diet by dried bones, fungi or decay- 
ing wood. By this method I have 
taken many species of Necrophaga, 
&c., &c. Many persons recommend 
the sweeping of grass and long 
herbage during the night, putting 
the proceeds of such sweeping into 
a bag tied at the mouth. I have 
tried the “dodge” and caught no- 
thing of consequence, saving several 
bad colds ; that one of a light 
placed on a white sheet laid upon 
the grass, I have practiced with 
like results. By the way, I have 
entirely given up putting corrosive 
sublimate into my gum, as I find 
that it sooner or later turns the card 
yellow, no matter how small the 
quantity used may be. A little gum 
arabie is -a' first rate thing to mix 
with the tragacanth, as it renders 
setting much easier, and if too much 
is not put in, it does not perceptibly 
gloss the card. This gum does not 
spoil readily if kept in a dry cool 
place and will often keep for months. 
— T. Bishop, G, Dixon Street , Glas- 
goiv. 
Hymenoptera. 
Cynips Querciis . — While I was 
at Hastings last winter, I was 
pleased with the pretty cane baskets 
full of ferns, feather mosses, and 
primroses, which the children cany 
about in the streets, even before 
the close of January, and tempt you 
to buy. The handle is formed of a 
string of the hard round galls, 
which are formed so abundantly on 
the tops of young oaks in the south 
of England. These the children 
gather towards winter, when 
sufficiently hard to serve their pur- 
pose. The Gynips has usually ’ere 
this made its exit from the gall, 
leaving a small round hole on one 
side — thus a part of the boring is 
done. I have more than onco 
watched the tenant of the gall. A 
bud of a terminating shoot is chosen 
