10 



informed me that Stratena, a common cement, answers the 

 purpose very well. The intervals between the corks are 

 regulated by the size of the specimens to be placed in the 

 box. When the box is filled, each specimen carefully pinned 

 in the center of its cork, the top glass may be fitted and 

 fastened in the frame and the edges pasted over with strips 

 of paper to exclude dust and mites. The advantages of this 

 method of preserving the collection are, that both surfaces 

 of the specimens can be viewed without opening the box ; 

 that dust and insect enemies, such as mites and Anthreni, 

 are guarded against without the use of poison. These boxes 

 are also very cheap and can be simply arranged on shelves 

 like books. When filled and the specimens are to take their 

 definitive place in the collection, the glass can be permanently 

 closed and a list of the contents with the Family name at 

 the head pasted at the back of the box. The objection that 

 the specimens cannot be readily gotten at is outweighed by 

 the consideration that they are adequately preserved. Spe- 

 cimens which are the subjects of study can be kept ad interim 

 in store boxes. So long as I kept my specimens in such 

 glass boxes, I never lost a single one from museum pests. 

 If an infected example was by any accident introduced, the 

 damage was always confined to the infected specimen. The 

 Anthrantx larva would fall and, owing to its inability to 

 crawl on glass, would perish before reaching a second spe- 

 cimen. The French Entomologist, the late M. Guenee, used 

 to keep his types in smaller glass boxes of a similar con- 

 struction for their better preservation, and I had the oppor- 

 tunity of seeing them at his house in Chateaudun. Each 

 specimen should have a locality label attached to the pin 

 and the bottom specimen of a series should bear the correct 

 Latin name and the Authority ; written labels are, as a 

 rule, better, being more evidently authentic, than printed 

 ones. The collector can pass many happy hours with his 

 specimens, microscope and notes, and happy hours are always 

 welcome in this life. 



Collecting at Night has the drawback that one never 

 knows when to stop and go home to bed, seduced by the 



