INSECT CABINET. 13 



ommends placing a rare insect (if a beetle or an}* - other hard 

 insect) in water for an hour until the tissues are softened. If 

 soiled, an insect can be cleansed under water with a fine hair- 

 pencil, then submit it to a bath of arseniatcd alcohol with cor- 

 rosive sublimate. If the insect becomes prune-colored, it 

 should be washed in pure alcohol several times. This method 

 will do for the rarest insects ; the more common ones can be 

 softened on wet sand, and then the immersion in the arseniatcd 

 alcohol suffices. After an immersion of from a quarter of an 

 hour to an hour, according to the size of the insect, the pin is 

 not affected by the corrosive sublimate, but it is better to unpin 

 the insect previous to immersion, and then pin it when almost 

 dry. 



For cleaning insects ether or benzine is excellent, applied 

 with a hair-pencil ; though care should be taken in using these 

 substances, which are very inflammable. 



After the specimens are placed in the cabinet, they should be 

 farther protected from destructive insects by placing in the 

 drawers or boxes pieces of camphor wrapped in paper perfo- 

 rated by pin-holes, or bottles containing sponges saturated with 

 benzine. The collection should be carefully examined every 

 month ; the presence of insects can be detected by the dust 

 beneath them. Where a collection is much infested with de- 

 structive insects, benzine should be poured into the bottom 

 of the box or drawer, when the fumes and contact of the ben- 

 zine with their bodies will kill them. The specimens them- 

 selves should not be soaked in the benzine if possible, as it 

 renders them brittle. 



Insect-cabinet. For permanent exhibition, a cabinet of shal- 

 low drawers, protected by doors, is most useful. A drawer 

 may be eighteen by twenty inches square, and two inches deep 

 in the clear, and provided with a tight glass cover. For con- 

 stant use, boxes made of thin, well-seasoned wood, with tight 

 fitting covers, are indispensable. For Coleoptera, Dr. Lecontc 

 recommends that they be twelve by nine inches (inside meas- 

 urement). For the larger Lepidoptera a little larger box is 

 preferable. Others prefer boxes made in the form of books, 

 which may be put away like books on the shelves of the cabi- 

 net, though the cover of the box is apt to be in the way. 



The boxes ami drawers should be lined with cork cut into 



