196 INSTRUCTIONS FOR COLLECTING INSECTS. 



at the same time to destroy the iinhatched eggs, is to submit them to 

 a degree of heat sufficient to coagulate albumen. This is accomplished 

 by placing the box in an oven, turning the open portion downward, 

 and elevating it a little above the surface by means of supports so 

 that they may not be burned, and the insects themselves must be 

 watched lest they are scorched by the heat. The heat will soon dis- 

 lodge the larvae, which falling on the heated surface are killed, and 

 the albumen of the eggs is coagulated; thus preventing the develop- 

 ment of those in ova. I am acquainted with no means of preventing 

 the invasions of the anthreni, except perfect seclusion of the objects 

 themselves ; it is usual to recommend the introduction of lumps of 

 camphor into drawers and boxes, but it has very little effect on them; 

 tlie English entomologists use a few drops of Borneate of PetroUne, 

 (probably a mixture of oil of camphor and petroleum,) but as I have 

 never seen it nor used it, I can say nothing respecting its efficiency. 

 According to my experience, too, it is useless to paint the bodies with a 

 strong solution of corrosive sublimate ; it spoils the specimens and 

 does not protect them. I have also tried disembowelling the large 

 moths and stuffing them with cotton, subsequently saturating it with 

 corrosive sublimate; but this does not protect the thorax against their 

 ravages. The boxes and drawers of a collection should therefore be 

 inspected frequently, for the purpose of ascertaining if any destruc- 

 tive insects are present, this being immediately revealed to the eye by 

 a little heap of dust or excrement beneath the specimens attacked. 



The collection may be kept either in drawers covered with glass, or 

 in wooden boxes; the latter should be three inches deep and twelve by 

 eighteen or twenty inches clear measurements, opening in the centre 

 of the depth on hinges, and defended from dust by a short 7'abhet 

 around the inside of the lower portion. The boxes should have one 

 of their measurements about twelve inches, because the cork is usually 

 cut in pieces about this length. A cabinet of drawers, each lined 

 with cork and covered with a glass, enables one to view the insects 

 without danger of accident by touch, but it would be more expensive 

 than simple boxes. Mr. Titian Peale, of Washington City, has an 

 extensive cabinet, which for beauty^ security, and convenience, excels 

 anything I have ever seen. The cases consist of a light square frame 

 about twelve inches by nine inches, which are bound in an ordinary 

 cover like a folio volume, and arranged on the shelves of a case like 

 books; the frame is supplied with a glass on each side and made per- 

 fectly tight in grooves by means of thin foil. The space the insect 

 occupies having been previously ascertained, a section of a cork for 

 vials is fixed to the glass, together with the number of the specimen, 

 by means of black varnish. This arrangement enables one to examine 

 both sides of the expanded insect without any difficulty, and excludes 

 insects and dust completely. It will be a source of pleasure to Mr. 

 Peale, I am sure, to give those who are desirous of forming a cabinet 

 in imitation of his plan more specific directions than I can respecting 

 the construction of these entomological volumes. He assured me they 

 are not expensive, and that any one can soon learn to make and bind 

 them as they are wanted, as he himself has been in the practice of 

 doing for many years. His collection has been in his possession more 



