2O2 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS [May, '14 



An Improved Method of Caring for Specimens of 

 Butterflies on Extended Collecting Trips. 



By R. A. LEUSSLER, Omaha, Nebraska. 



No doubt every butterfly collector who ever "papered" a 

 lot of desirable material on some extended collecting trip, has 

 experienced more or less disappointment when, on spreading 

 the specimens, those the condition of which, when taken, left 

 nothing to be desired, have been found minus antennae, or 

 legs, the wings rubbed, or the thorax and abdomen flattened 

 and distorted. The spreading of any papered specimens, too, 

 is apt to prove more or less unsatisfactory, especially in those 

 families having strong thoracic muscles, as the Hesperiidae, 

 since when specimens have lain in papers though for a short 

 time, the wings often show a tendency to revert to the posi- 

 tion held while in the papers, which cannot be entirely over- 

 come even though the insects are kept on the spreading boards 

 for a considerable length of time. Also insects that have been 

 once dried and then pinned do not become as firmly fixed on 

 the pin as if pinned when fresh. 



During the past two summers I have employed a method 

 of caring for my specimens, when on trips varying in length 

 from a few days to two weeks, which proved so very satis- 

 factory that I feel it deserves description for the benefit of 

 other collectors. In general terms it consists in pinning the 

 specimens while still pliable, reducing the wings to a horizon- 

 tal position (in other words giving the insect a tentative 

 spreading), and then partially relaxing them when they are 

 to be transported homeward or from one place to another on 

 the trip. Simple as the method is, its most effective applica- 

 tion requires that it be described in detail. 



The first step is to put the specimens from the killing bottle 

 into tight tin boxes for about 24 hours, when all rigor mortis 

 will, have disappeared. For this purpose I use tin shoe polish 

 boxes, and five or six of these boxes will hold 60 to 100 small 

 and medium-sized butterflies. To keep the specimens from 

 damaging each other by contact, I place Japanese crepe paper, 



