162 INSTRUCTIONS FOR COLLECTING INSECTS. 



B. For Collections. 



Where the specimens are intended to be placed immediately in a 

 cabinet, the smaller species should not be put in spirits, but rather 

 in homoeopathic vials, in each of which is a small piece of bibulous 

 paper moistened with ether. Thus the specimens do not become wet, 

 and can be gummed on cards without delay. 



Pinning. — Coleopterous insects, more than one-tenth of an inch 

 long, unless of very narrow form, should be pinned through the right 

 elytron, in such manner that the pin passes out beneath, between the 

 middle and posterior coxa of the right side ; the pin must be graduated 

 to the size of the specimen. German pins alone should be used ; they 

 are not so long and of harder and more elastic metal than the French, 

 and much better j)ointed. Short English pins should always be 

 avoided ; they bring the specimen too close to the bottom of the box. 

 Insects less than a tenth of an inch long, or very narrow species of 

 larger size, must be gummed on cards, which are placed on pins of 

 No. 1 or No. 2. For economy in travelling, several cards may be 

 placed on one pin, in which case the cards should be larger and put 

 on No. 3 pins ; they can afterwards be cut down to the proper size. 



I have found the most convenient method of preparing cabinet 

 specimens to be the following : Cut thin Bristol board into strips 

 about one-fifth of an inch wide ; from these, with sharp-pointed 

 dissecting scissors, cut small isosceles triangles, in number equal to 

 the specimens to be prepared ; place each one on a pin about three- 

 fourths of its height ; then selecting the specimen to be prepared, 

 arrange the feet and antennae v*'ith two camel's hair pencils, or with 

 one pencil and a pin ; clip the end of the triangle so as to give a base 

 about one-third or one-fourth of the length of the insect, holding the 

 pin with the card in the left hand ; touch the tip of the card with a 

 pin dipped in the cement, then lifting the insect with a moistened 

 pencil, place it at right angles to the altitude of the triangle and on 

 the left hand of the pin ; this position^ if neatly given, and without 

 any superfluity of cement, enables the under surface of the specimen 

 to be very thoroughly examined. 



The best cement is a mixture of inspissated ox gall, gum arable, 

 and water, and should be so thick that the specimen will remain in 

 the position in which it is placed. Gum arabic alone is too brittle ; the 

 specimens prepared with it are apt to come off. Gum mixed with a 

 little brown sugar answers very well ; so does the common mucilage 

 of the shops. 



Setting. — The antennae and feet of small specimens should be drawn 

 out so as to enable them to be examined when necessary; of large 

 specimens, they should be moved with brushes or fine forceps, with 

 the same object in view. Any system of regular setting such as is 

 adopted by English collectors of bringing the feet and antenna3_ as 

 nearly as possible on a plane with the body is reprehensible ; nothing 

 can be more awkward than the appearance of a box of specimens trais 

 prepared, and the specimens themselves are much more liable to injury. 

 The posture should be as nearly as practicable that assumed by the 



