INSTRUCTIONS FOE COLLECTING INSECTS. 181 



nO"W TO SET LEPIDOPTERA. 



The wings of lepidoptera are usually set, that is, expanded as 

 though in the act of flying ; but it is well to have one or two speci- 

 mens showing the wings in their natm^al position during repose. The 

 collector should prepare, in the first place, a number of braces of 

 stiff card, varying in length from half an inch to two inches, cut so 

 as to taper towards one end, square at the other, and about the fourth 

 of an inch broad. Through the broad end of each, a large strong 

 pin should be introduced. A piece of board should then be covered 

 with sheet cork glued to the surface ; this forms what is called the 

 setting board. When a specimen is to be set, two of the braces are 

 fixed on the board at a sufficient distance. apart to receive the body 

 between them, and to sujiport the wings well after expansion. Then, 

 with a setting needle, a common needle thrust into a piece of wood so 

 that it can be used more conveniently, the wings are expanded on 

 the lower braces and fixed there by placing over them additional ones. 

 Another form of setting board is made by having grooves in it to 

 receive the body and then by applying braces to the expanded wings 

 they are easily retained i)erfectly flat. Some use pieces of plate glass 

 of difierent widths to press down the expanded wings, but it is not 

 the best plan, strips of paper pinned over the wings being preferable. 



The wings should be expanded by introducing the setting needle 

 on their inner margin, or where they meet over the top of the body. 

 Insects should be left on the board from a day or two to four or five, 

 according to size and the condition of the weather. Care must be 

 taken to exclude mites from the board ; this can be done by using a 

 mixture of equal parts o{ oil of thyme, oil of anise, and spirits of loine. 

 It should be spread over the setting board, and especially laid on the 

 grooves, and for this purpose spirits of turpentine is also very effectual 

 and much cheaper than the mixture of essential oils. 



REARING THE CATERPILLAR. — THE VIVARIUM. 



The study of Lepidoptera does not consist in the collection of 

 perfect insects and the investigation of their peculiarities of structure. 

 They have all lived an active, voracious, and interesting life pre- 

 viously to transformation from the embryonic state to that of maturity, 

 and it is the aim of the naturalist, as well as of natural history, to 

 look kmdly into their individual existences, and seizing the particu- 

 lars of each little life by observation, to write their biographies. 

 The student must free his mind from the worship of the idols of size 

 and physical beauty, which incline him to regard with respect him 

 who devotes his powers to the study of mammals, whilst he smiles 

 pityingly on one who falls into ecstacies over a new found beetle. 

 Wherein is the superiority of the former pursuit ? Tlie same evidences 

 of thought are discernible here as there, adaptations more wonder- 

 ful, habits more interesting and more injurious to our interests, an 

 anatomy more complicated, physiological questions more difficult of 

 solution, and even life itself seems to laugh at regularity or harmony 



