APPENDIX. 189 



and the caterpillar skin, which often adheres to the straw, 

 must be gently removed with some delicate, blunt instru- 

 ment, or Avith the finger-nail. 



A piece of wire a little more than twice the length of 

 the caterpillar is next cut, and, by means of forceps, bent 

 as in Fig. 5, the tips a little incurved, a little shellac* is 



Fig. 5.— Wire bent into shape to insert into the caterpillar ; not enlarged. 



placed at the distal extremity of the loop, the wire is held 

 by the forceps so as to prevent the free ends of the wire 

 from spreading, and they are introduced into the empty 

 body of the caterpillar as far as the forceps will allow; 

 holding the loop and removing the forceps, the cater- 

 pillar is now pushed over the wire with extreme care, until 

 the hinder extremity has passed half-way over the loop, 

 and the shellac has smeared the interior sufficiently to 

 hold the caterpillar in place when dry ; the extremities of 

 the parted wires should reach nearly to the head. Nothing 

 remains but to curve the doubled end of the wire tightly 

 around a pin with a pair of strong forceps and to place 

 the specimen, properly labelled, in a place where it can 

 dry thoroughly for several days before removal to the cab- 

 inet. 



For more careful preservation and readier handling, 

 each specimen may be placed in a glass tube, like the test- 

 tube of the chemist. The wire is then first bent in the 

 middle and the bent end inserted in a hole bored in the 

 smaller end of a cork of suitable size, so as nearly to pass 

 through it; the loops are then formed as above; both ends 



* To prepare this, tlie sheets of dark shellac should be preferred 

 to the light, and dissolved in forty per cent alcohol. 



