158 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



ON PREPARING LEPIDOPTERA EOR THE 

 CABINET. 



By Clatjde Ryan. 



Lae,V/E.— Tlie caterpillar to be preserved should 

 be killed by immersion in spirits of wine, and the 

 intestines should be extracted through the anal 

 orifice by means of a crochet-needle. The skin 

 should then be inflated by a fine glass blowpipe to 

 its natural form, and dried as quickly as possible 

 before a fire, or, what would be better, in a small 

 metal chamber, heated by gas or a spirit-lamp. The 

 object should then be mounted on a twig or leaf, 

 and the inside well washed with a solution of cor- 

 rosive sublimate. The parts which may have faded 

 should be re-tinted with a camel-hair brush and 

 colour. 



Pup^^.— The preservation of pupse is very easily 

 managed. The live chrysalis may be killed by 

 being plunged into boiling water, or the empty 

 shell maybe filled with wool, coloured to give it the 

 natural tint, and the parts which have been split 

 asunder by the emerged insect may be gummed into 

 their proper form. The pupa; of the butterflies 

 should be allowed to remain on the twigs, &c., on 

 which they are found, in order to show the manner 

 in which they are fastened ; whether hanging down- 

 wards by the tail, as the Fanessida, or fastened in 

 an upright position by means of a silken girdle, 

 as P. Machaon (Swallow-tail), or F. brassicce and 

 P. ruptB (Large and Small Garden Whites), and 

 many others. 



The cocoons should also be kept, and where 

 they exhibit any peculiarity of construction (as 

 those of S. Pavonia minor), should be cut in half. 



Imago. — The modes of killing the perfect insect 

 are various, and each plan has its supporters. 

 Among the best of them I may mention the fol- 

 lowing : — 



The cyanide-bottle, which is made by strewing 

 the bottom of a wide-mouthed-bottle with cyanide 

 of potassium (which is a deadly poison), and over 

 this a layer of plaster of Paris sufficient to cover it. 

 The ammonia-bottle has a thick pad of blotting- 

 paper at the bottom, on which a few drops of strong 

 liquid ammonia may be dropped before using. The 

 aurel-jar is composed of alternate layers of 

 pounded laurel-leaves and blotting-paper. 



Insects may also be killed by being stabbed in the 

 thorax with a penknife dipped in strong oxalic or 

 prussic acid. 



Of the above, the first is the one which I recom- 

 mend. The ammonia vapour of the second is apt 

 to destroy the more delicate colours of insects 

 left long under its influence, and the laurel-jar 

 is too large, and not speedy enough in its action for 

 field-work. 



Specimens may be set on either rounded or flat 



setting-boards. Rounded setting-boards are pre- 

 ferred by many entomologists, on account of the 

 specimens set on them being readily distinguished 

 from Continental lepidoptera, which are set on flat 

 boards, the wings being kept in position by the 

 weight of little flat pieces of glass instead of braces. 



Another way applicable to either round or flat 

 setting-boards, is to keep the extended wings iu 

 position by winding thread round them. For my 

 own part, I use flat corked boards, cardboard 

 braces being used to keep the wings in their places ; 

 for, besides imparting a much more natural appear- 

 ance to the specimen, it is in my opinion consider- 

 ably easier to manage. Insects should be set so 

 far on the pin, that when stuck into the corked 

 drawers of the cabinet, the body and wings should 

 not reach the surface. By this means tliey are 

 in a great measure kept out ,of the way of mites 

 and other pests. 



Specimens which have been badly set should be 

 relaxed and reset. To accomplish this, place them 

 on pieces of cork on the surface of a bed of damp 

 sand until the wings are sufficiently limp, and 

 then reset them, taking the precaution of leaving 

 them longer on the boards than fresh specimens. 



Large-bodied moths should have the contents of 

 the abdomen extracted, and then refilled with 

 cotton wool dipped in corrosive sublimate. Unless^ 

 these steps are taken, the bodies aad wings of the 

 specimens, and the paper underneath them, will 

 become covered with patches of grease, which it is 

 impossible to obliterate. The corrosive sublimate 

 1 have mentioned is used as a preventive against 

 mites. 



To make it of the proper strength, put six grains 

 of the sublimate to an ounce of rectified spirits. A 

 feather or piece of black paper will, when dipped 

 in this, have the appearance of being mildewed if the 

 solution is too strong, and more spirits should be 

 added until it is of the proper strength. 



MICROSCOPY. 



On the Ciiauacters of the EriDERMis of the 

 TwAY -BLADE {Listera ovata). — At a late meeting of 

 the East Kent Natural History Society, Mr. Gulli- 

 ver, E.R.S., exhibited specimens of the cells of the 

 epidermis of some orchids, and crystals in the Elm. 

 They are interesting contributions to phytotomy, and 

 likely to prove acquisitions to amateur microsco- 

 pists. The subjoined notices are from the abstracts 

 of the proceedings of the society in the Kentish 

 Gazette, a newspaper so distinguished for its intelli- 

 gent appreciation and excellent reports of provincial 

 natural science, as to take a lead therein, and set an 

 example in the difl'usiou thereof, which we hope to 

 see more extensively followed, as will surely be the 

 case with the advance of education in rural dis- 



