Vol. XXX | KXTOMOLOCICAL NEWS. 





any concern for the neatness of his cabinet. How many 

 tedious hours must he spent in relaxing and remounting ex- 

 amples which by reason of extreme rarity or some special 

 scientific interest are withheld from the waste-basket a fate 

 otherwise well deserved ! It requires but little additional ef- 

 fort to prepare specimens properly in the first place, and it is 

 hoped that the suggestions offered below may be of some ser- 

 vice in the matter. 



In mounting Hemiptera, only the black steel pins of Ameri- 



can manufacture should be used. They are of course far su- 



perior in every way to the bright brass pins, so liable to cor- 



rosion and so prone to bend, and yet some collectors still use 



the latter. It is true that the steel pins will rust in the 



presence of moisture, as at the sea-shore or when the collec- 



tion is stored in a basement, but under the same conditions 



mould will grow on the specimens and hence undue humidity 



must always be avoided, aside from the question of pins. It 



is often recommended that Hemiptera be pinned through the 



scutellum, but with certain families this is not advisable. In 



the Reduviidae, for instance, the scutellum is proportionately 



so small as to be entirely destroyed by a pin otherwise of suit- 



able size for the insect, and in such cases it is usually best to 



pin through the posterior lobe of the pronotum. The Corixi- 



dae, where the scutellum is usually concealed, may be pinned 



through the right hemielytron, like beetles. For convenience 



in. comparing specimens under the binocular, as well as for 



aesthetic reasons, the insects should all be set at a uniform 



distance from the head of pin, with about ^ the length of the 



pin projecting above the insect an oft-repeated injunction 



but one little heeded. This is to be accomplished with the aid 



of the pinning block described below. As it is often necessary 



to examine the hind win^s and dorsal surface of the abdomen, 



a specimen or two of each sex in every species should be pin- 



ned with the wings unfolded, but not spread on a setting 



board, an artificiality not needed in mounting Hemiptera. 



Specimens so small as to be injured in the least by a No. 2 pin 



should be mounted on points, e. g., almost all Miridae, Antho- 



