70 
THE ENTOMOLOGIST’S WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER. 
with all the butterflies without injury. 
As to the comparative merits of bruised 
laurel-leaves and ammonia, I have no 
difficulty in deciding in favour of the 
latter for the Macros. Moths killed in 
bruised laurel-leaves soon get stiff, and 
are not fit to set until the moisture in the 
leaves has relaxed them : when ammonia 
is used the relaxation is perfect and per- 
manent for a long time at least. Some 
collectors stupify their insects with ether, 
lucifer matches or laurel-leaves, and then 
use oxalic acid to kill with : others, clever 
at manipulation, pin their bred insects 
at once, and then, fixing the wings by 
a dexterous pressure with the fingers 
against the under bone of one wing, in- 
sert the oxalic acid (a saturated solution) 
by means of a steel pen, giving the said 
pen one or tw'o turns, and renewing twice 
or three times with large moths. Insects 
killed by oxalic acid ought to be kept in 
a drawer filled with camphor for five or 
six hours before setting (Doubleday) : 
they do not require this if they have been 
half-an-hour in the vapour of ammonia. 
As to the preservation of insects when 
killed and set, I believe I have gone 
through every method known for the pur- 
pose, and I am quite sure that prevention 
is a good deal better than cure in this 
matter; if two grand preliminary points 
are not attended to it is impossible to 
keep a collection of insects in fine con- 
dition, viz., first, a perfectly air-tight 
cabiuet, and secondly, the insects ought 
to be well dried before they are placed 
in the collection. If these points are 
attended to, and the drawers kept well 
filled with camphor, they will not readily 
become attacked by mites; if they are, I 
am quite sure there is no application so 
good as corrosive sublimate, in the pro- 
portion of a scruple to two ounces of pure 
rectified spirits of wine, and applied to 
the bodies and thoraces of the affected 
insects with a camel-hair pencil. If the 
insect is common throw it away at once 
and catch another; if it is rare, use the 
solution as above. Some years ago I 
applied spirits of turpentine to an insect 
affected with mites, but I found them 
moving the next morning: naphtha I 
used with like results, and the borneote of 
petroline is, according to my experience, 
of no use, and it “ smells horribly a 
ghastly smell.” I once spoiled my col- 
lection from beginning to end by painting 
the bodies with cajeput oil ; but no mite 
ever survives the application of the 
sublimate. I should not advise Mr. Lin- 
nell to kianize his insects as a preventa- 
tive, for an insect never looks so well 
when the bloom is taken oft’ by any ap- 
plication whatever, and moreover some 
people think that the sublimate corrodes 
the pin ; therefore it should only be used 
as a remedy, not as a preventative. The 
solution should only be applied to the 
under part of the body, the insertion of 
the wings, the thorax, &c. With regard 
to grease, there is nothing equal to tur- 
pentine, which should be applied to the 
bodies freely, and then let them be covered 
with pure magnesia for twenty-four hours 
(Winter). The magnesia will then either 
shake or blow off, or it can be removed 
carefully with a camel’s-hair brush. Mr. 
Greene has a way of his own, which I 
dare say he will communicate, if you 
wish. — C. R. Bree, Stricklands, Stow - 
market. 
Ilelicopsyche S/iuttleworthi. — With 
respect to the notice of this insect in No. 
33 of the ‘ Intelligencer,’ p. 55, I am 
able to furnish the following information. 
From the same source as Professor v. 
Siebold, namely, from the late Herr 
Bremi, of Zurich, I possess cases of He- 
licopsyche Shuttleworlhi, H. minima, 
and a third species from South America. 
All these are constructed in a similar 
manner, and naturally belong, not to one 
species, but to species of the same genus. 
In a case of II. minima, from Porto 
Rico, a pupa was found, which Herr 
Bremi forwarded to me for examination 
between glass plates. Although the in- 
