122 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



the alcohol away and drop on a little of the oil of 

 cloves anilin blue stain, and leave it not more than 

 five minutes. The specimens must then be washed 

 two or three times in benzine. The blue drives out 

 the magenta from the membranous parts of the 

 insect, leaving it in the chitinous portion : a red and 

 blue specimen is the result. If the specimen be left 

 in the fluid too long, the blue will be precipitated on 

 its hairs. The specimen is not spoilt, for the pre- 

 cipitate may be immediately dissolved, by dipping 

 the object into absolute alcohol. After this it can 

 be replaced in benzine directly. It is magenta, and 

 especially the oil of cloves anilin blue stain, that the 

 natural oil of Canada balsam causes to fade ; but, as far 

 as I can see, after about fifteen months' trial, dammar 

 has no effect on them, the benzine fixing them per- 

 manently. It is therefore better, as precautionary 

 measures, not to use balsam for any stained specimens 

 whatever, and to thoroughly wash them all in benzine 

 before mounting them in dammar. 



"When it is desirable that any insect should be 

 stained, in almost every case, the proper time or part 

 of the mounting process at which to stain it is after 

 the soaking in acetic acid. 



None of the numerous soakings and washings in 

 the processes described above is without its reason. 

 To give the why and the wherefore of everything 

 would take too much space, but, if any important 

 washing be omitted, the slide will not turn out so 

 well as it ought to do. It is a much less complicated 

 matter to mount a specimen in reality than to read 

 about it ; but, to make the description as clear as 

 possible, I give an abstract of the way in which three- 

 fourths of insects may be mounted. The time needed 

 for each stage of the process is noted. 



No. I. Soak the insect, or part of it, in liquor 

 potassse until transparent enough. Boil in clean liquor 

 potassce, ten seconds. Wash in distilled water. 



No. 2. Soak in acetic acid, half an hour. Wash 

 in distilled water. 



No. 3. Stain, when necessary. 



No. 4. Wash in spirits. Soak in absolute alcohol, 

 three to ten minutes. 



No. 5. Soak in pure oil of cloves, five minutes, or 

 in anilin blue oil of cloves three to five minutes. 



No. 6. Wash in benzine. Wash in perfectly clean 

 benzine [if stained]. 



[Specimens may be kept in benzine for a long time 

 without injury.] 



No. 7. Mount in dammar or balsam. 



None of the other processes have so many stages as 

 this. 



I will now briefly detail for what kinds of insects 

 the various processes are suited, but it is obvious that 

 under this head only the most general directions can 

 be given. 



Whole insects look best in cells in glycerine, or, if 

 opaque, in water, and some may be mounted dry ; 

 these media, as I have said above, are not intended to 



display every detail, but only to give a general idea 

 of the object. If the insect be rare, so that the 

 mounter has no specimens for dissection, some of its 

 beauty must needs be sacrificed by the potash and 

 balsam process, supposing that it is particularly 

 desired to make out some detail, and at the same 

 time, to mount the specimen whole. I venture to 

 think that no insect larger than a house fly should be 

 mounted whole. Those wretchedly flat things, which 

 are only fit for magic-lantern slides, such as whole 

 garden spiders, butterflies, or even humble-bees, are 

 my peculiar abomination. I have seen a great many 

 of these "whole insect slides," some by [so-called] 

 " first-rate mounters," but in none of them yet have I 

 seen the features which make an insect beautiful on the 

 one hand and interesting on the other, at all nicely 

 shown. In attempting too much everything is lost. 



Almost all dissected parts of insects may be mounted 

 in balsam by process I. Only transparent specimens 

 should be stained. Double staining is especially 

 suited for the following sorts of objects. Bees' and 

 wasps' mouths and stings ; gizzards (these doubly 

 stained are extremely beautiful) ; spiders' feet ; the 

 mouths of most insects ; mites of the family Trombi- 

 dium ; in fact, all parts of insects in which there is 

 much soft membrane and a little hard chitine. For 

 transparent ants and flies, and for such mites as cheese 

 mites, soaking in ether (process 2) is suitable. When 

 small Crustacea are prepared for mounting [if it is 

 wished that the shells be softened], they must be 

 soaked for a longer time in acetic acid than is neces- 

 sary for insects. I find anilin blue .the best stain for 

 some, and hrematoxyline for others. 



I have endeavoured to describe as clearly as I know 

 how my methods of preparing insects, and I am told 

 that some of my slides are rather successful. I do 

 not in the least pretend to entire originality. Some 

 of the " dodges," to use a current phrase, "are my 

 own invention, " but very many of them are the ideas 

 of others (as I consider) improved on. Those who 

 wish to make good slides should aim to improve on 

 the methods here given, and it is only by trying 

 different processes and varying them on the same 

 object that success is likely to be achieved. 



Oxford. H. M. J. Underhill. 



MY HEDGEHOGS. 



IN May of last year, having become possessed of 

 two hedgehogs, and as the hedgehog is an 

 animal that I had heard so many idle stories about, 

 and wishing to learn something about their history 

 and habits, &c, I determined to keep them. 



The first experiment that I made, was to duck 

 them in a pail of water, in order that self-preserva- 

 tion might compel them to unravel themselves, so 

 that I could inspect them properly. 



My next move was to provide a suitable residence 

 for them ; this was done in the shape of an old box, 



