opened to you in the insect world, you will have such a number of objects of speculation present themselves, that will amaze you. When an insect is inclosed in these nets it is to be stuck through the body with a pin (I have sent some for this purpose), and in that manner placed in the box, whose top and bottom are lined with cork. Suffer me to beg of you (if you will be so obliging to procure me some of those things) to get a larger box made in Africa of soft wood, in which a pin will easily enter, and replace the insects out of the oval box now sent into that, and when filled I will entreat you to commit it to the care of a friend to be conveyed to England, giving him at the same time a charge to keep it from being tumbled about by the rolling of the ship, which will certainly damage the contents, and favouring me with a letter of advice; it is necessary to beg you to paste a slip of fine linen or paper all round the crevice and opening of the box, to prevent the cockroaches, ants, &c. getting in, who will infallibly damage and destroy the insects in it; I forgot to mention that they should not be removed out of the oval box into the great one till they are dead, because they will scratch and tear one another to pieces, therefore when the person comes home from collecting, they may be taken out singly and stuck on a piece of board or stick, and held close to the fire (not so as to burn or scorch them), and this in less than a minute will effectually kill them, afterwards they may be stuck very close together in the large box, and in that manner sent to England. I will just mention what kinds will be most acceptable, and where they are to be found, viz. beetles or insects with hard cased wings, insects with transparent wings, such as wasps, {ix}bees, waterflies, also locusts or grasshoppers, ants, fireflies, or in short any kind except cockroaches, centipedes, or scorpions, which in general are so very common they cease to be valuable--of all the other kinds there is an infinite variety, differing in size, shape, and colour, any of which will be very acceptable, either large or small; and of which, give me leave to observe, the most ugly disagreeable insects (as they appear to be) are the most desirable. They are found in various places, some on flowers, some in horse-dung or cow-dung, some under stones and logs of wood, some under the bark of trees where it separates or divides itself from the body, which by tearing up will expose many kinds to view; but no place abounds more than rotten trees, for there they hide and secrete themselves in holes among the rotten wood, and are never seen unless they are searched for. Let me here observe, that the different seasons will yield different species of insects, some being to be found in one week that were not to be seen the preceding ones, and the next