The Capture, Preparation, and Preservation of Specimens 
field, and are not pinned, the precaution of surrounding them 
with packing such as has been described is not necessary, but the 
box in which they are shipped should always be strong enough 
to resist breakage. Things forwarded by mail or by express 
always receive rough treatment, and the writer has lost many fine 
specimens which have been forwarded to him because the 
shipper was careless in packing. 
Pins .—In the preceding pages frequent reference has been made 
to insect-pins. These are pins which are made longer and thinner 
than is the case with ordinary pins, and are therefore adaptable to 
the special use to which they are put. There are a number of 
makers whose pins have come into vogue. What are known as 
Karlsbader and Klager pins, made in Germany, are the most widely 
used. They are made of ordinary pin-metal in various sizes. The 
Karlsbader pins have very fine points, but, owing to the fineness 
of the points and the softness of the metal, they are very apt to 
buckle, or turn up at the points. The Klager pins are not exposed 
to the same objection, as the points are not quite so fine. The best 
pins, however, which are now made are those which have re¬ 
cently been introduced by Messrs. Kirby, Beard, & Co. of England. 
They are made of soft steel, lacquered, possessing very great 
Fig. 74.—Butterfly-forceps, half-size. 
strength and considerable flexibility. The finest-sized pin of this 
make has as much strength as the largest pin of the other makes 
that have been mentioned, and the writer has never known them 
to buckle at the tip, even when pinned through the hardest insect 
tissues. While these pins are a little more expensive than others, 
the writer does not fail to give them an unqualified preference. 
The Forceps. — An instrument which is almost indispensable to 
the student of entomology is the forceps. There are many forms 
of forceps, and it is not necessary to speak at length in reference 
to the various shapes; but for the use of the student of but¬ 
terflies the forceps made by the firm of Blake & Co. of Phila- 
56 
