236 



ENTOMOLOGY. 



line perpendicular to the body, so as to free the inner 

 margin of the hind wings from the body, that their form 



may be distinctly seen. 

 When thus arranged, they 

 can be confined by fine 

 threads drawn over the 

 wings, by pieces of card 

 pinned to the board as 

 indicated in Fig. 268, or, 

 as we prefer, by square 



FIG. 268.-Mode of setting with card-braces P ieces f g lass laid u P on 

 the wings of a butterfly or moth. them. 



After the insects have been thoroughly dried they should 

 not be placed in the cabinet until after having been in 

 quarantine to see that no eggs of Dermestes or Anthreuus, 

 etc., have been deposited on them. 



For preserving dried insects in the cabinet Laboulbene 

 recommends placing a rare insect (if a beetle or any other 

 hard insect) in water for an hour until the tissues are soft- 

 ened. If soiled, an insect can be cleansed under water with 

 a fine hair-pencil, then submit it to a bath of arseniated 

 alcohol with corrosive sublimate. If the insect becomes 

 prune-colored, it should be washed in pure alcohol several 



a 



FIG. 269. Ptinusfur. a larva. 



times. This method will do for the rarest insects; the 

 more common ones can be softened on wet sand, and then 

 the immersion in the arseniated alcohol suffices. After an 



