250 mr. a. j. t. janse 



Arrangement of Collection. 



Before tbe insects are placed in their permanent 

 places each specimen requires labelling. The rough 

 labels are to be replaced by neatly printed, or written 

 labels on which the date and Jocalitj is mentioned and 

 any other information such as ^' bred," '^ caught at 

 lights/' etc. For these particulars symbols or letters are 

 sometinses used, or, better still, a number is given, and 

 this refers to notes made in a special notebook. Some 

 entomologists ])lace numbers only on their specimens 

 Though I did so myself many years ago, I do not think 

 it a good practice. It gives more work in the end, and 

 it often leads to the loss of information, even that of 

 locality and of date; if these are lacking, the specimen 

 is of no great scientific value. The labels should be very 

 small and uniform in size and appearance; mine are 7 

 by 12 millimetres, and have the collector's name printed 

 on them. A large label is imsightly, it draAvs attention 

 from the insect, especially when the insect has a wing 

 expansion of 10 mm. or less. Some entomologists usp 

 dift'ereni coloured labels or coloured discs of paper on 

 their specimens to indicate the country or province from 

 which they came. I regard this practice as valueless, the 

 information being placed to better advantage on the 

 label; in point of fact it is a practice that should be 

 avoided Specimens pinned on very short " minutiens " 

 pins should be put on a so-called second mount before 

 they are placet) in the drawers. A small piec3 of pith is 

 cut and fixed to a moderately thick insect pin (Klaeger 

 No. ;1) at a height nearljj that of insecis pinned in the 

 ordinary way. The '' minutien '' pin is fixed into the pith 

 with the head of the moth pointing toward'- the pin. 

 Some entomologists prefer to liave the head of the in 

 sect away from the pin. IJut as most of these smaller 

 moths have rather long legs, this method of mounting 

 often involves the loss of one or more of the hind legs, 

 these coming in contact with the big pin. Such acci- 



