Page:The Zoologist, 1st series, vol 4 (1846).djvu/74

1240 hitherto been unique in Mr. Curtis's cabinet. It is about one line in length, black; above, greenish or blackish green, deeply punctured ; thorax narrowed in front ; antenuEB black, the fourth and fifth joints thickened in the male ; fifth joint much elongated in the female ; sixth small, following ones broader and compressed, giving them altogether a very stout and robust appearance, which immediately distinguish it from Lepidii and others without the aid of a glass. — J.F. Dawson; Ventnor, Isle of Wight, December 30th, 1845.

Treatment of Coleoptera when captured. — Mr. Douglas (Zool. 1042), has given a few hints as to the manner in which insects ought to be mounted for the cabinet, and I hope my brother entomologists will profit by those hints. But, besides the cruelty of sticking good insects with pins like skewers, slanting in all directions, I have a few re- marks; to offer on their treatment when first captured and while they are yet alive. That their sensibility to suflfering is less acute than that of the higher order of animals, probably in exact ratio to the inferior grade they occupy in creation, is not to be denied ; but that they are totally incapable of an^ feeling whatever, is an idea which cannot for a moment be entertained ; and yet some persons treat them as if they believed that such were the fact. During an entomological ramble last summer, I met a gentleman similarly engaged with myself, who produced a box, and exhibited to me his spoils ; in that box were a number of beetles impaled alive on fins, writhing and struggling (I say) in agony. Now I do not for a moment believe that he intended wantonly to inflict torture on his poor victims ; it was no doubt the result of thought- lessness on his part, but such a practice may lead to a disregard to the feelings of in- ferior animals. We have no right to inflict an unnecessary amount of pain on any of God's creatures, and therefore I would suggest to such collectors (probably young hands) who have been in the habit of pinning their captures alive, that they adopt the plan which is generally made use of (and I had imagined universally) by entomologists, viz. to cany with them on their excursions, a wide-mouthed bottle or two, containing camphor and blotting-paper, with a quill stuck through the cork and suspended by a string from the button-hole of the coat, to be ready for the reception of the beetles as they capture them. The camphor will in a short time stupify them and prevent them from struggling and injuring one another ; and the blotting-paper absorbs the mois- ture. A strong kind of bottle is sold by Messrs. Christy, Stangate Glass-works, Lambeth, which is well adapted for this particular purpose, being less liable to frac- ture, than the common wide -mouthed bottles ; it is known there by the nick-name of the toad-bottle. Tin-cases shaped like a bottle, with a tin-tube on the top or lid are also made use of for the purpose. On arriving at home with the captures, the bottles may be immersed in boiling water, which will speedily destroy what little vitality the cam- phor has left in the insects ; or these latter may be themselves emptied into boiling water which causes instant death to them ; the latter plan, however, is said to render them more liable to animalculae. — J.F. Dawson; Ventnor, Isle of Wight, October 1st, 1845.

Carnivorous propensity of the Dragon-fly. — When seated in my garden during the last summer I was much amused by observing a large specimen of the common dragon- fly (Libellula depressa), soar past me with a large butterfly in its mouth. It alighted upon a tree to enjoy its feast. Having allowed it to remain in peace for some time, I at length dislodged him with a stone, when the butterfly fell to the ground. It had demolished the head and part of the body of a tolerably sized specimen of the Pea- cock butterfly (Vanessa Io). Although well-known that the Libellulidæ live upon small