THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



neatly arranged case of butterflies was now nothing but a chaos of nibbled 

 bodies, loose wings, pins and labels. I had not the heart at first to throw 

 out these fragments, and so wipe out entirely the pleasing recollections 

 each brought up in my mind of rambles through the woods and in the 

 country, so carefully gathering up the wings I put them away in a little 

 box. The idea then struck me of printing them as I had seen my old 

 friend do them, and as I think it would be a very convenient way for 

 Entomologists and Agriculturists to send butterflies for identification, when 

 spare duplicates are to be had, I am induced to send a description of the 

 modus operandi : 



Take the insect in your left hand, holding it beneath the thorax ; then 

 with a pair of sharply-pointed scissors cut off the wings as close to the 

 body as possible. Occasionally, unless the scissors are very sharp, some 

 of the muscles are torn away from the thorax with the wings ; these must 

 be carefully removed. Arrange the wings in pairs and put them with the 

 body on one side, in some convenient place where they may be easily got 

 at when you are ready for them. Now take a piece of white paper of the 

 size required, and fold it in two like a sheet of note-paper ; then with a 

 camel-hair brush lay on a thin wash of perfectly clear gum-arabic, fold 

 down the upper half and pass the hand lightly over it so as to spread the 

 gum evenly between the two sides ; now re-open it, and taking up the 

 wings with the tip of the brush, the lower ones first, arrange them care- 

 fully in the position wanted, leaving space enough intervening between 

 the two pairs to paint in the body afterwards. Spare no pains in arranging 

 the wings ; this corresponds with "setting" for a cabinet. I have seen 

 many good collections of insects, made by amateurs, rendered almost 

 useless by the want of a little thought on this point. The proper position 

 for a butterfly to be set in is that which it takes when sunning itself. Copy 

 nature and you cannot go wrong. When the wings are quite even, gently 

 fold down the upper half of the paper and put your specimen under a 

 heavy weight, or in a press, until quite dry. I generally leave mine for 

 some hours at least. When it is quite dry take it out and place it against 

 a window pane so that the butterfly may be clearly defined against the 

 light. Now very carefully draw a line with a black lead pencil round the 

 edges of the wings ; then lay it down on an even surface and paint with 

 clean water all over the part outside and up to the outline. After a few 

 minutes the water will saturate the paper and dissolve the gum ; the two 

 sides will then separate easily, and this being done, ft will be found that 



