pushed thru the specimen and thrust into 

 the pinning bottoms of storage containers 

 without grating or catching. 



Pin Holder. The preparator usually 

 wishes to keep a number of different sizes 

 of insect pins available. A convenient 

 means of doing this is to place them in a 

 wood block containing a number of holes 

 about a quarter of an inch in diameter and 

 slightly shallower than the length of the 

 pin. (Fig. 17.) 



Fig. 17. Insect pin holder. 



Size of Pin to Use. Insect pins are avail- 

 able in various sizes from 00 to 7. The 

 beginner needs but three sizes, numbers 1, 

 2 and 3. 



For pinning small insects the size of but- 

 terflies such as spring blues and beetles 

 such as cucumber beetles, #1 pins are 

 used. 



Specimens the size of bees, deer flies, cab- 

 bage butterflies and tiger beetles are pinned 

 with #2 pins. 



Large specimens as May beetles (June 

 bugs), horse flies and monarch butterflies 

 are pinned with #3 pins. 



If the collector is specializing on a group 

 containing very large forms such as the 

 giant water bugs, Saturniid moths and stag 

 beetles, it is advisable to use #4 pins for 

 the largest specimens. 



Mounting on Point. All insects which 

 are too small (small ants, beetles, bugs with 

 hard shells, etc.) to be pinned on a stand- 

 ard pin or too hard to mount on a min- 

 uten (a very small insect pin) may be 

 mounted on a point. This is a small piece 

 of cardboard or celluloid thru which a #3 

 pin is thrust. Punches can be purchased 



ill Hi Mi 



Fig. 18. A. Punch for making points. B. Va- 

 rious styles of points. 



which are made to cut these points, several 

 standard sizes and shapes of which are com- 

 monly used. (Fig. 18.) 



To mount insects on points proceed as 

 follows: (Fig. 19.) 



1. Lay out the insects to be mounted. 



2. Thrust a #3 pin thru the broad end of 

 the point and raise it to the proper height. 



3. Bend the tip of the point downward using 

 forceps or fingers. 



4. Place a small drop of glue or cement (Du- 

 Pont's Household) on the bent tip of the point. 



5. Grasp the pin as shown in Fig. 19 and touch 

 tip to side of thorax of insect. 



6. Arrange insect so that head points forward 

 when point projects to the left. 



Where to Pin Specimens. Not all orders 

 of insects are pinned thru the same parts 

 of the body as they differ so much in struc- 

 ture. Beetles (Fig. 20a- 1) are pinned near 

 the front margin of the right wing close to 

 the middle line. Grasshoppers (Fig 20a-2) 

 are pinned thru the back part of the pro- 

 thorax just to the right of the middle line. 

 Butterflies, bees, flics and all the other or- 

 ders of insects (Fig. 20a-3-4) are pinned 

 thru the thorax a trifle to the right of the 

 middle line. 



The insect should be mounted so that it 

 is held at right angles to the pin, both from 

 side to side and from front to back, as il- 



