130 HINTS TO INSECT COLLECTORS. 



at one end and a camel's hair brush at the other, or the upper end of a 

 feather trimmed like a brush, with a needle at the other end of the shaft, 

 supplies a setting-needle; and a pair of little forceps may be made from 

 a thin strip of tin or zinc, or a piece of wire about five inches long, bent 

 in the middle, and the ends hammered flat so that they may lie directly 

 opposite each other. It is necessary to have a piece of gum tragacanth about 

 the size of a sixpence dissolved in five tea- spoonfuls of cold water in a bottle. 



When cork is beyond the student's reach let him procure a board and 

 nail, or paste on it two or three plies of old cloth, and paste a sheet 

 of writing paper on the surface; or ten sheets of newspaper nailed or pasted 

 at the edges, so as to be somewhat loose, and thus offering less resistance 

 to the pin. Provide a store of common pins, and some thin card cut 

 into triangular slips of various sizes, with a pin thrust through the broad 

 end, to act as braces for retaining the wings and legs of the specimens 

 in proper positions until dry. 



In setting beetles, hold the specimen with its head from you, between 

 the thumb and forefinger of the left hand; thrust the pin through the 

 right-hand wing corner near its centre, till the point projects a quarter of 

 an inch on the under side of the body; display the different parts of the 

 mouth by means of the little brush or setting-needle, arrange the feelers 

 and the legs in a natural manner, stick it firmly in the setting-board, 

 re-arranging its members, and securing each where necessary with pins and 

 braces; with the exception of the legs of butterflies and moths, it is well 

 to attend to these details in almost all cases. Moths should be pinned 

 after death when laying on the table or palm of the hand; if the head of 

 the pin is slightly inclined forwards, it will much facilitate the setting if 

 the specimen is afterwards placed perpendicularly on the setting-board: take 

 care not to injure the wings of moths and butterflies. 



The wings of beetles are seldom displayed, but those belonging to other 

 orders of insects should be fully displayed, just as if the insect had been 

 struck dead when in full flight. Butterflies and moths may be set with 

 their bodies in grooves cut in cork by a rat-tailed file, and their wings 

 braced down; bees, wasps, dragon-flies, and two-winged flies should have 

 their wings displayed flat upon little tables of card mounted on pins and 

 secured with smaller braces. All beetles below a quarter of an inch in 

 length are liable to be injured by the pin; provide thin cards, rule them 

 for the sake of neatness into little spaces; one size, three-eighths of an 

 inch, by two and a half eighths, and the other two and a half eighths 

 of an inch by two-eighths of an inch. Cover a space with gum, extend 

 the members of the specimen, wet the little brush, and place the former 

 on the card, and re-arrange its members. When dry cut out the stage, 

 and mount it on a pin behind the specimen. 



