The collector will do well, after a first hurried "burst" at all beetles that come in his way, to select a special group, and lay himself out to work it carefully, buying or borrowing the works of authorities upon it, and making himself master of the _botany_ connected with it, if it be a group of plant-frequenting habits. By such a way of working, he will more quickly, though step by step, acquire a good collection, and a stock of useful knowledge, than by any other. He will of course keep a register of the date and place of capture, and any peculiarity of habit of each insect he takes. Figures of the date of the year (usually the last two are sufficient), followed by another set, commencing with 1, will generally be quite enough; corresponding entries being made in the first column of a ruled diary. These figures may be written in ink on the under side of the card of a mounted specimen, or on a circular disc of paper, pierced by the pin of one too large to be carded. VI. HYMENOPTERA. By John B. Bridgman. Having been asked to give some instructions as to the method of setting and preserving the aculeate _Hymenoptera_, it is with great pleasure I comply, and I hope it may be the means of inducing others to collect these insects. To begin at the beginning, it is almost needless to state that the females of all of them (a few of the ants excepted) are furnished with stings, but with very little care one need never be stung. As Mrs. Glass says, "First catch your hare": so first I shall give a few instructions where to look for and how to catch these insects. All the apparatus necessary is a gauze ring-net, a cyanide bottle, and a pocket full of small card pill-boxes; the cyanide bottle is best made by wrapping a small piece of cyanide of potassium in two or three thicknesses of blotting-paper, tying it round with cotton to prevent it shaking out, then fixing it to the bottom of a wide-mouthed flat bottle with sealing-wax, which is made to adhere firmly to the glass by heating the glass carefully over a lamp, and then corking it up. The pill-boxes ought to have the tops and bottoms fastened in with liquid glue (a preparation of shell-lac). These are all that are required to catch and bring home the game; which is to be looked for at the flowers of trees, bushes, and plants--one season's experience will teach the best, as some species frequent one, some another, and some almost all. The flowers I have found the greatest favourites are sallows, willows, sycamore, holly, blackthorn, bramble, hawkweeds, ragwort, thistles, and umbelliferæ. Some bore in putrescent wood, and must be looked for on or in the neighbourhood of old posts and palings; some are to be found flying about dry banks, hard-trodden pathways, on heaths, while old sand pits are favourite places; but they should be sought for in any warm, rough, weedy spot; and some may be obtained by digging them out of their burrows with a trowel. My