358 RELAXING INSECTS FOR CABINET. 



better to run the plaster into a separate tablet instead of pouring 

 it straight into the tin, as the tin is less likely to rust, being less 

 closely in contact with the plaster. For butterflies in envelopes 

 whose wings are folded, I stand a number of pins upright in rows 

 in the plaster just as it is setting, and stand each insect between 

 two pins. I have been more successful with plaster than with 

 sand, but a great deal depends on keeping the relaxing box at a 

 sufficiently warm temperature (yet not so hot as to soak the wings 

 with steam). A hot-water cistern is very good for this, but I have 

 even had recourse to a small spirit-lamp on emergency. 



A little wet, if it condenses on the wings, can be absorbed with 

 blotting-paper, and the insects will stand a fair heat, which will 

 generally render them more pliable in a day than if they had been 

 kept in the cold for an indefinite length of time. A little care 

 about heating is of far more value than all the nostrums which 

 various writers recommend on the experience of setting half-a- 

 dozen insects. As regards preventing springing, if the insects have 

 been on the setting boards for a months one may begin to think of 

 taking them off. Three weeks is decidedly risky, unless the 

 boards are kept in a particularly warm, dry place — e.g.^ hanging on 

 a wall, with a kitchen chimney behind it. If on being placed in 

 the cabinet, the wings still show signs of springing upwards, they 

 may often be kept down with card braces transfixed with pins for 

 weeks until all tendency to spring has been cured. 



Finally, if you do not wish to have your specimens disfigured 

 with unsightly rubs and gashes across the wings, such as are seen 

 in nine collections out of ten, you cannot be too particular about 

 the mounted setting needles used for drawing the wings into place. 

 Curved needles are particularly useful, as they enable the wings to 

 be moved forward into place from the underside, where the needle 

 has a better grip on account of the projecting veins, and rubs do 

 not show above. I have nearly thirty different kinds of setting 

 needles, each adopted to its own special purpose, some with only 

 i/32nd of an inch projecting beyond the wood, some with the eye 

 end projecting, besides a large number of curved ones. A "needle 

 holder," as used for dissecting purposes, is also invaluable. With- 

 out a good supply of setting needles ready at hand, a considerable 

 percentage of insects will be damaged in setting. 



