HOW TO COLLECT PRESERVE & STUDY INSECTS 235 



Packing. 



When beetles have to be transported over a long dis- 

 tance before entering a collection it is perhaps better to 

 pack them, instead of pinning them at once, as in the 

 latter case, there is more risk of breaking the specimens 

 in transit and also they take np much more room. Later, 

 they may be relaxed either by placing them in pure water, 

 or by making use of a relaxing box such as is emploj-ed 

 for Lepidoptera. Even when pinned at once, the relax- 

 ing to set the legs, antenna?, etc., may have to be post- 

 poned when collecting far from home. Yet with 

 delicately coloured beetles it is as well to set the 

 specimens while quite fresh in order to preserve natural 

 colours as much as possible. Some people preserve their 

 beetles temporarily in alcohol of about T5%, or formalin 

 of about 3%, but I do not favour this method, as ex- 

 plained before; also it makes all species more or less 

 brittle. Nothing is gained by this "wet" preservation, 

 as all parts used by the coleopterist are well chitinised 

 and are just as well preserved dry. Only when 

 anatomical and histological study is intended is the 

 " wet " method essential. 



The easiest, quickest and least bulky packing is clean 

 sawdust, preferably from pinewood, mixed with 

 naphthaline in a proportion of 5 parts sawdust to 1 part 

 naphthaline. On the bottom of a tin box a layer of this 

 sawdust is spread on which to arrange the beetles next 

 to each other, without touching; these are kept in their 

 place by the next layer of sawdust and naphthaline on 

 which another layer of beetles is placed and so on, 

 until the tin is full. When the specimens are from dif- 

 ferent localities, and of different dates, it is necessary to 

 keep them separate by means of a piece of paper on 

 which the information is written. A similar paper 

 should alwaj's be on top of the last la^^er, inside the box, 

 otherwise the scientific value of the specimens is lost 



