386 TAXIDERMY AND ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING. 



the purse of the collector. Some large collections are con- 

 tained in boxes, and most of the coleopterists of this country, 

 so far as the writer knows, have adopted these as receptacles 

 for their collections. The boxes should be about two inches 

 deep in the clear, the bottom should be lined with the best 

 quality of cork, about one-fourth of an inch in thickness, and 

 the whole papered inside with white paper. The lid should 

 be fastened upon the lower part of the box, either by a tongue 

 and groove or by thin strips nailed around on the inside and 

 projecting above the margin of the bottom portion at least half 

 an inch. These boxes should also be hinged. The material 

 should be w r ell seasoned. Double boxes with cork on the top 

 and 011 the bottom are sometimes used, and these may be pre- 

 pared with backs resembling books, and may be placed upon 

 their ends upon shelves. They should not be laid one upon 

 the other, as the insects pinned upon the upper side are liable 

 sometimes, through jarring, to become detached, and falling 

 out to cause a breakage among the specimens. The writer em- 

 ploys in his own collection drawers twenty-two inches long, 

 eighteen inches wide, and two inches deep, covered with glass, 

 the glass cover being attached to the bottom by a tongue and 



groove. 



The specimens should be kept in the dark, as exposure to 

 light bleaches them, sooner or later. Great pains should be 

 taken to keep out dust, mould, and insect pests, such as An- 

 threnus and Derrnestes. Naphthaline crystals destroy mites 

 and they cannot exist where it is abundantly present. Aii- 

 threnus and Dermestes may be kept out of collections by naph- 

 thaline, but Avhen they have been once introduced they will 

 remain and propagate in spite of the presence of the drug. In 

 order to exterminate them various agents are employed. The 

 best is perhaps chloroform, and next to this carbon bisulphide. 

 In buying the latter drug, care should be taken to purchase the 

 washed and purified article, which is not as malodorous as the 

 common varieties which used formerly to be sold by druggists. 

 It is, however, highly explosive when mixed in quantity with 

 the air, and care should be taken not to use it in proximity to a 

 light. It has the advantage of destroying at once the imago, 

 the larva, and, perhaps, the eggs of museum-pests. The 'writer 



