45. 



Pin through the thorax, unless through the scutelluin, which in a few cases 

 is preferable. Beetles, however, pin invariably through the right elytron. 

 Pin all at an equal height, with a fourth or fifth of the pin projecting above. 

 Use entomological pins only, which may be bought of James W. Queen & Co., 

 924 Chestnut street, Philadelphia, Pa., at 15 cents per hundred, Nos. 1 to 5, 

 Carlesbader. 



Moisten dry specimens by placing them in a box of wet sand, over which 

 a sheet of soft paper has been laid; after 15 or 20 hours their wings may be 

 easily spread. Better, however, to fasten them in position as soon as killed. 

 Plough a deep groove in a board two inches thick and three or four inches wide, 

 of size suitable to the body of the insect. Cut away on either side of the 

 groove, that the wings when fastened may be elevated at an angle. Place the 

 body in the groove, and the pin through the insect into a hole bored in the bot- 

 tom of the groove, and fasten by pinning strips of paper or paste-board across 

 the wings, or better, lay short strips of glass upon them, oi* fasten the insects by 

 wrapping thread around their blocks, the setting board having been sawed into 

 pieces three or four inches long. After a day or two they may be removed from 

 the boards, kept in quarantine for a time, and then placed with other insects 

 collected. Keep the collection in closed boxes, in which is kept constantly gum 

 camphor or benzine. Fasten the pith of cornstalks, or thin cross-sections of 

 pine, or strips of cork to the bottom, into which the pins may be thrust without 

 being bent. Examine collection frequently for "parasites." Remove eaten 

 specimens to a separate case. Insects soaked for a time in a solution of cor- 

 rosive sublimate (poison) in alcohol, will not be touched. 



Collect and rear larvae, which may be done with little trouble. Keep all 

 the pupae found. Thus the imago or adult will be secured without injury and 

 without exertion. Collect nests of all kinds to illustrate insect architecture, 

 which is both interesting and instructive. Label everything when captured 

 giving date and locality. But note especially the habits, and insert in a jour- 

 nal, kept for the purpose, a fully written history of the insects observed and 

 studied each day. 



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