230 ENTOMOLOGY. 



sect in the net, or even at rest in the open air, and the 

 specimen is at once ready to be pinned and spread. A 

 chloroform bottle with a brush securely inserted in the 

 cork is often convenient for small moths. 



Pinning Insects. The pin should be inserted through 

 the thorax of most insects. The Coleoptera, however, 

 should be pinned through the right wing-cover (Fig. 266); 

 many Hemiptera are best pinned through the scntellum. 

 The specimens should all be pinned at an equal height, so 

 that about one-fourth of the pin should project above the in- 

 sect. 



The best pins are those made in Germany, and are adver- 

 tised for sale in American entomological journals. For 

 very minute insects very small pins are made. They may 

 be used to impale minute insects upon, 

 and then stuck through a bit of cork, or 

 pith, through which a large, long pin may 

 be thrust. Then the specimen is kept out 

 of the reach of devouring insects. Still 

 smaller pins are made by cutting off bits 

 of very fine silvered wire of the right 

 length, which may be thrust by the for- 



FIG. 266. Mode of , , -, ,., , , 



pinning a beetle. ceps into a piece oi pith, alter the insects 

 have been impaled upon them. 



Small insects, especially beetles, may be mounted on 

 cards or pieces of mica through which the pin may be 

 thrust. The French use small oblong bits of mica, with 

 the posterior half covered with green paper on which the 

 number may be placed. The insects may be gummed on 

 the clear part, the two sexes together. The under side 

 can be seen through the thin mica. 



Others prefer triangular pieces of card, across the end of 

 which the insect may be gummed, so that nearly the whole 

 under side is visible. 



Mr. Wollaston advocates gumming small Coleoptera upon 

 cards. Instead of cutting the pieces of card first, he gums 

 them promiscuously upon a sheet of card-board. "Having 



