14 PREPARING FOR THE COLLECTION. 



What I have tried to make clear I might have told you my good reader, 

 by word of mouth in a few minutes, but as that was impossible, owing to my 

 not having the attribute of ubiquitousness, I still hope I have made myself 

 intelligible, but different species will want different little arrangements, which 

 will suggest themselves as necessity requires their use. 



CABINETS, &c., FOR CONTAINING LEPIDOPTERA. 



Various Entomologists employ different kinds of receptacles for their ex- 

 amples. 



The plan adopted by myself (see fig. II, A, plate II,) is to arrange them 

 in drawers which are contained in cabinets; the size of the drawers which I 

 use are 19 x 16 inches in the clear and If inches deep, they arc made of ^ 

 inch stuff with soft pine bottoms, of course if you are wealthy (which few 

 naturalists in this country are) you can line the bottom of your drawers with 

 cork which of course is an advantage, but soft pine will answer every pur- 

 pose. These drawers have the groove, by which they slide into their places 

 in the cabinets, in the middle of the side, which obviates the necessity of 

 having strips between each drawer and thereby losing space, in the height 

 of the cabinets, that would hold a couple of more drawers; in the tops of 

 these drawers fit narrow walnut or other hard wood frames with glasses 

 puttied into them, (see fig. II, C, plate II,) these are removed by merely lift- 

 ing up and laying aside when necessary; I have three rows of these drawers 

 in each cabinet, the short sides of the drawers being its front, that is when in 

 the cabinet they are longer from front to back than they are wide. I 

 paint the top edges of the drawer, where the frame and glass fit in, with 

 creosote occasionally, say whenever I have necessity to work at that drawer I 

 put some on, with a large soft hair pencil or brush, the drug permeates the 

 wood, and keeps away the Dermestes and Anlhrenus, the pests so destructive 

 to collections of objects of natural history. The drawers should be papered 

 inside with white paper, such as periodicals and magazines are printed on does 

 very well, it costs about 60 cents a quire, and that quantity will paper at 

 least fifty drawers. 



The above plan of receptacle I consider the very best, and it is the one 

 generally adopted for great collections all over the world. 



But the drawers should be made to slide into their places very easily; give 

 them a little play so that you may, when necessary, change them about; thus, 

 we will say drawer No. 20 is the last containing swallow tails (Papilio) and 

 drawer 21 is the first containing the Avhite butterflies (Pieris). Now you get 

 an accession in the Papilio, but your last drawer No. 20, devoted to that genus 

 is full, well, instead of having to unpin your whole collection to get drawer 

 No. 21 empty for the occupancy of the new ones, you merely take the last 

 drawer in your cabinet, (which is empty) and pin your new examples in it, 

 you then put the drawer that is next to the last one in the place from whence 

 you took the latter, and the drawer above that in its place and so on until you 

 come to drawer No. 21 which you will then put in the place of drawer No. 

 22 and in the space above formerly occupied by drawer 21, you now put in 

 the drawer which was the last in your cabinet and in which you have pinned 



