HOW TO KNOW THE INSECTS 



put When freshly killed into sniall envelopes and v/ell dried. A 

 specimen may then be glued on its side on double card points, 

 with less chance of breakage. Turn wings to left. 



Two to four specimens of the same species of small insects 

 may be mounted on a white card. Hake the cards very small and 

 perfect rectangles. Arrange a small drop of glue on the card for 

 each insect then carefully place the insects on these drops. Put 

 at least one of the specim.ens on its back. Head all of them away 

 from. you. When finally arranged, pin the card through the middle 

 or right end, using the top step of the pinning block or the pin- 

 ning stand to get the correct height. Ants are usually mounted 

 on cards. 



Butterflies and moths should have the wings spread. Use for- 

 ceps to handle the specimens. If the wings are folded together 

 over the back they may be opened for pinning by squeezing the 

 sides of the thorax with the forceps just bel'ow the wing bases. 

 Pin the specimen through the pro thorax to the proper height on 

 the pin. Then with this pin fasten the specimen to the spreading 

 board bringing the "shoulders" of the specimen just even with the 

 top of the board. With a fine pin or needle placed just back of 

 a heavy vein, pull both front wings forward until their back mar- 

 gins make a straight line with each other at right angles to the 

 body. In a similar way pull up and fasten the back wings. Fin- 

 ally pin a strip of paper across the wings to hold them in place. 

 Use common pins or better still, glass headed "mourning pins" for 

 this. Put the pins just outside the wind's but never through 

 them. If body or antennae are out of natural position they may 

 be braced Y/ith pins until dry. 



Other Insects having large broad wings such as dragon flies, 

 Dobson flies, stone flies, cicadas, etc. may be mounted on the 

 spreading board. The long slim bodies of dragon flies and dajn- 

 sel flies are so fragile when dry that they are frequently rein- 

 forced. With a long slim needle, soft darning cotton may be 

 pulled from the front of the thorax through to the tip of the ab- 

 domen. When the thread comes out clean, cut off at both ends, 

 and leave for reinforcement. If colors of darning cotton match- 

 ing those of the specimens are selected so much the better. 

 Grasshoppers should have only the left wings spread. The local- 

 ity and date of collection should be carefully kept for each in- 

 sect, on the spreading board and locality labels put on the pin 

 as soon as the insect is removed. 



Spreading boards must be kept where mice and roaches cannot 

 have access to them. This is true of specimens in any form. Mice 

 can completely ruin a fine collection in one night. Insects 

 should stay on the spreading board until thoroughly dry, usually 

 a week or two depending on the weather and size of Insect. When 

 dry they should be removed promptly and after receiving the lo- 

 cality labels be put in boxes. 



Pinning boards should be solidly made but need not be ex- 

 pensive. A springy, loosely constructed board is almost certain 

 to seriously damage the specimen. Plans for a good board are 

 shown. The top pieces should be of soft wood that takes pins 

 readily. The other parts may be of either soft or hard wood. 

 Corrugated paper or balsa wood may be substituted for the cork 

 strips. These strips must be securely tacked or glued into 



28 



