preparing for the Cabinet. 321 



it appears to be the decomposition of the contents 

 of the body that causes the loss of colour. It will 

 soon be discovered that a certain number of specimens 

 do not lose their colours even if they receive no 

 special treatment, and the cause of it may be that they 

 have been fasting. Hence it is suggested that the 

 morning is a good time to collect, especially after a 

 period of dull weather. To obtain specimens while the 

 intestines are empt}', or to keep them alive till that 

 consummation has been reached, is the onl)' course of 

 procedure that it is o[)en to ])ursuc in the case of the 

 Agrioiiiucc. 



With man}' of the larger species most collectors will 

 take stronger measures than this. The usual method 

 is with a pair of sharp-pointed dissecting scissors to 

 make a slit as soon as possible after death along the 

 ventral surface of the abdomen. Then, the insect 

 being held in the left hand b}- the wings,^ the points 

 of a pair of rather slender dissecting forceps are 

 inserted in the slit near the thorax. W^ith these the 

 intestines are seized, and, if care is used, nearly the 

 whole of the contents of thorax and abdomen are 

 brought away together in one long tube. What is left 

 must be picked awa}' little by little, if possible, without 

 touching the inside of the skin, for it is in a delicate 

 film there situated that the colouring matter is to be 

 found. If the specimens are needed for study after- 

 wards the slit must not extend to the ninth and tenth 

 segments, nor must the second segment of the male be 

 interfered with. But perhaps the best thing would be 



* (Jr it niny be fastened clown on its hack to a sheet of cork with 

 two very hne jjins. 



Y 



