218 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



•which I have drilled a hole about a sixteenth of an 

 inch in diameter, in which is fixed a copper wire, 

 having a shallow tin cup at the end. In this tin 

 cup is placed the sulphur. The tin cup is then held 

 over the flame of a lamp, gas, or candle, till the 

 sulphur is burning, then put it into the bottle and 

 press it down. When all the oxygen is consumed 

 the sulphur goes out. Leave them for about three 

 hours, take them out, and put them into a damp 

 box for twelve or more hours : they will then be in 



Fig. 140. Insect set with table-braces. 



a splendid condition for setting. To stupefy the 

 insects I tip the lids on one side, put them into the 

 sulphur-bottle, pour a drop or two into the tin cup, 

 and put it into the bottle. Be careful not to 

 chloroform them too much, as if killed so they 

 become so rigid that it is with difficulty they can 

 be set. 











■ 



Fig. 141. Wood, with the strips glued on. 



Having killed them, there only remains to pin and 

 set them. There are various sizes of pins used; 

 most collectors have fancies of their own on this 

 subject ; I shall therefore only say what is my prac- 

 tice. The pins I use are D. E. Tayler & Co.'s New 

 Hall Works, Birmingham ; No. 15 for bumble-bees 

 only ; the other sizes 1 find most useful are 15, 10, 

 and 18. Some pin the insects straight, and some 

 with the pin inclining forward. Having pinned them, 

 the next thing is to set them. There are two ways 

 of doing this ; one is, cut an oblong square of stout 

 cardboard and put a pin through one end ; after the 

 legs are stretched out, this is put into the cork, one 

 on each side, till the upper surface of cork is just 

 below the level of the wings, which are then laid 

 out on the card, and held there by a brace the same 

 shape as the table (see fig. 140). If the insect has 

 been properly killed, the legs and antennae will keep 

 set out without the aid of pins ; if not, this is done 

 with bent or straight pins as may be necessary. 

 The other way is a "hymn of my own composing." 



First take one of the strips of cork as sold at the 



shops, paper it on both sides with thin soft paper ; 

 then take a piece of wood a little larger than the 

 cork, about half an inch thick ; on this I glue strips 

 of cardboard, or thin wood, according [to the size of 

 the insect, side by side, and as far apart as necessary 

 (see fig. 141). These being dry, I glue the sheet of 

 cork on to the top of the strips, which leaves it 



L_ 



Fig. 142. Ditto, side-view. A, the same witli the cork glued 

 on; B, cork; C, the same with the cork cut through at 

 the dotted lines in A, and fastened down. 



looking like a succession of bridges. When this is 

 dry the cork must be cut through between the 

 pieces first fastened on the wood ; these pieces are 

 then taken out and glued to the wood (see fig. 142) ; 

 this leaves many setting-boards, something similar 

 to the single rounded ones used by lepidopterists ; 

 but these are flat, — they want to be just deep enough 

 for the insect aud wide enough to allow the legs to 

 be stretched out. A little practice will soon deter- 

 mine the size. The wing I hold down with small 

 triangular braces. Each board will hold about 

 seventy or eighty insects ; beneath I put the date 

 they were set, and leave them on the board about a 

 month to dry, as if taken off too soon the wings 

 spring. Always put a label to each specimen, either 

 with the date or a number corresponding to one in 

 a book, in which enter the date and locality. 



One more observation and I have done. Some- 

 times one comes across an insect whose rigid wings 

 seem to defy all attempts to set ; in such cases 

 just press firmly at the back part of the thorax, 

 between that and the abdomen, towards the pin, 

 and the wings will sometimes fly open of their own 

 accord, or will allow of their being easily set in the 

 required direction, which should always be set well 

 forward. 



HISTORY OF OUR CULTIVATED 

 VEGETABLES. 



No. XII.— Spinach (Spinacia). 



THIS vegetable, which belongs to the same 

 family as the Beet (Chenopodiacece), appears 

 to have been unknown to the ancients, unless, as 

 some authors think, it might be the Chrysolacanon 

 of Dioscorides or the Blitum of the Romans ; but 

 the properties described as belonging to these 

 plants make it very uncertain what species is really 

 intended, as several of this order of plants have 

 been and are still used for cooking and salads. 

 Spain is supposed to be the first European country 

 into which Spinach was introduced. Miller, in 

 his "Gardeners' Dictionary," says, "Perhaps the 



