16 ENTOMOLOGICAL PINS. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL PINS 



arc made of all requisite thicknesses, the German pins, which run from Nos. 1 

 to 5, are the most extensively used and are, without doubt, the best; they 

 range in prices from $1.00 to &1.50 per thousand. 



The pins used by English Entomologists are much shorter, and the use of 

 them is confined almost exclusively to the naturalists of that nation. 



No. 3 German pins are best size for general use as they will do for a small 

 fly and are strong enough for quite a large one ; but with Nos. 2, 3 and 4 you 

 arc fixed for any size of Lepidoptera. 



THE ARRANGING OF EXAMPLES IN THE CABINET. 



First see that the examples are spread or expanded in a uniform style, 

 wings of all in same position and all the same height on the pin, and not too 

 high or too low, so that one-third of the pin shows above the insect. 



In pinning the insect into the drawer or box, seize the pin, a little above 

 the point, with the forceps which you hold in your right hand, (unless you be 

 left-handed, then vice versa), at the same time whilst pressing the pin into 

 the bottom of box with the forceps, hold the tip of the index finger of left 

 hand gently on the head of the pin until it is firmly fixed and the forceps 

 withdrawn ; this will cause the pin to stand perpendicular, for if you fasten 

 it without holding your finger on the head of the pin you may find that when 

 you remove the forceps your specimen will be leaning to the one side or other. 



You begin of course to placa your examples at the upper corner facing 

 your left hand; some pin them in single rows up and down, for example we 

 begin with Papilio Philenor, male, right below him we put the female, then 

 below her the next species, Papilio Turnus, male and its female, and so on to 

 the end of the row, and then begin the next, and so on ; of Lepidoptera, of the 

 size of those just mentioned, drawers like those previously described will hold 

 four rows, of Vanessans, Coliacles, &c., six rows, and of Lycaenidae, &c., eight 

 to ten rows. This plan is economical as regards space, but terribly trouble- 

 some, when you get new species which must be wedged in between some of 

 those already in, and necessitates the unpinning of half a drawer or box per- 

 haps, with beginners this may be pleasant, with old hands it is simply waste 

 of time. 



The plan which I have adopted and carried out in a collection, embracing 

 some forty thousand examples, is as follows: I place them in double rows, 

 thus, we will take for example that group of Picris of which P. Protodlce is 

 the common American representative, 1 have placed first a male of P. Pro- 

 todlce then right aside of it the female, then I place another male, with the 

 under-surface turned up, directly under the first male, then a female showing 

 the under-surface under the first female, then a male of P. vernaUs with its 

 female aside of it and below each a reversed specimen and so on, the follow- 

 ing will illustrate plainly my plan. 



