ACQUISITION AND PRESERVATION 



233 



a support for the long- abdomen. Insects when pinned 

 should be put in a safe place to dry, where they are not 

 liable to be broken and where mice cannot get at them; 

 for mice consider insects, even dry ones, tidbits. 



Lepidoptera, and other insects with broad and flat- 

 tened wings, should have their wings spread. This 

 can be accomplished with the aid of a spreading-board. 

 This board is made of two pieces of thin pine boards 

 laid parallel and fastened by braces at the ends, and if 

 the boards are long there should be a center brace. 

 There should be enough space between the boards to 

 admit the bodies of the insects to be spread. This space 



FIG. 186. Spreading-board for Lepidoptera. 



between the boards should be covered from beneath 

 with sheet cork or corn pith, to hold the pin upon which 

 the insect to be spread is mounted. The braces should 

 be high enough to allow the pins holding the insect to 

 pass through without touching the supporting-table. 

 To spread the insect, first pin through the rnesothorax, 

 then place firmly in spreading-board, by the pin pass- 

 ing through the cork or pith. Pin with common domes- 

 tic pins a narrow strip of paper across the base of the 

 wings, the pins being fastened a little in advance and be- 



