THE COLLECTION AND PRESERVATION OF DIPTERA 153 



respectively. A Doxful of these mounts can be prepared in 

 a very short time, and it is well to have a good supply of 

 the various sizes always ready in advance. The cork stage 

 carrying the fly should be pushed about half-way up a No. 

 13 pin, and this height should be uniformly maintained, 

 whatever the size of the fly. 



After having been staged every specimen should be 

 labelled with the name of the locality and collector, and the 

 date, the label being carried on the pin just below the cork 

 stage. Printed labels may be had to order from the firms 

 advertising such in the entomological journals, but it is not a 

 difficult matter to procure a small brass type-holder and a 

 small quantity of "pearl " or " diamond " type, so that if one 

 is neat-handed one can set up and print any number of 

 labels by hand. Failing printed labels the particulars 

 may be neatly written with a fine (crow-quill) pen and 

 Chinese ink. If the specimens are numerous such an opera- 

 tion becomes rather tedious, and printed labels should be 

 procured whenever possible. But (and let the reader note 

 this carefully) one or other of these methods must be 

 adopted, for specimens without data are of little if any value. 

 Many a collection formed at great trouble and expense 

 in the olden days would have had its value to the modern 

 collector increased fifty, nay a hundredfold, had full details 

 been available regarding the capture of the various specimens. 

 In the early period of British entomology it was apparently 

 the fashion to trust to the memory of the proud possessor of 

 a cabinet and its rarities, heedless of the fact that after the 

 decease of the collector an unlabelled specimen loses much of 

 its value and must sooner or later be thrown away as useless. 

 On the other hand a properly labelled specimen alwa}-s 

 retains a certain value, and may furnish important links in 

 the knowledge of distribution, variation, and other points 

 connected with the history of the species. 



Boxes are of course required for the storing and 

 classifying of the specimens. Here, perhaps, is the most 

 expensive part of a collector's outfit. A finely polished 

 cabinet such as is used to display a Lepidopterist's treasures 

 is not, however, essential for the student of Diptera, and 

 93 AND 94 R 



