1«75.] 63 



tender and stiff " : on the contrary, I have found tlicm become hard and rigid ; eo 

 much so, that I have found it difficult afterwards to relax them into a fit state for 

 setting. It is also stated that the use of the above materials renders the chance of 

 preserving specimens very difficult, if not impossible ; I can only understand this by 

 supposing the word ' preserving ' to signify ' setting.' 



I have not, of course, tried the method recommended, nor ain I likely to do so, 

 since my ovrn method, employed by me for the last 38 years, has enabled me to form 

 a collection life-like in appearance, every siDccimeu being symmetrically set with its 

 wings and legs expanded in a manner that enables me to examine every part, and 

 the tongue also frequently extended, so that the genus to which an insect belongs 

 can be readily determined. 



Now, what is the method I am advised to adopt ? I am to procure a number of 

 glass bottles, wliich are to be half-filled with dried moss ; those intended for the 

 smaller species are to have pieces of paper, to enable me more readily to find the 

 insects when emptying the bottles ; each bottle is to bo charged with sulphuric 

 vapour, obtained by inserting a lighted sulphur match ; the bottles thus charged are 

 to be closely corked ; the vapour, we are told, does not " easily evaporate," and 

 insects can be put into it two or three hours after they have been caught, when they 

 soon die. IIow they have been treated during these " two or three hours " I am not 

 informed ; but, from what I read afterwards, I conclude they have been writhing on 

 pins pierced through the thorax, — to which I decidedly object. This method, more- 

 over, entails the total destruction of the contents of a bottle, should it get hot by 

 exposure to the sun, as the vapour then turns to liquid ; in which case, all pubescent 

 insects must be entirely spoilt, and others, less pubescent, be very materially 

 deteriorated. 



My advice is, never pin any living Ilymenopterous insect. It is unnecessary ; 

 and every pubescent specimen is more or less (humble-bees entirely) spoilt by so 

 doing ; more or less liquid is sui-e to ooze from the wound in the thorax and mat 

 the pubescence. 



Having caught a bee or wasp in my net, I am advised to use a pair of pliers and 

 seize the insect by the leg, in order to put it in the bottle : — this appears to mo a 

 bungling mode of proceeding. The bottle method is also sometimes subject to a sad 

 catastrophe ; if so much of the vapour has evaporated that it is not sufficiently 

 potent to kill insects quickly, we are told that they bite off the antenna; and limbs 

 of each other, or crawl about and besmear themselves with the matter that oozes from 

 their wounds. 



The use of grooved boards is recommended ; the groove to have at the bottom 

 "some holes made perpendicularly, and filled with cotton-wool;" the pins that arc 

 pierced through the bodies of the insects are to be stuck into these holes ; the legs 

 of the insects are to be arranged in the grooves as best they can be ; the wings then 

 stretched on the surface of the boards, and secured in position by pieces of paper 

 pinned at each end ; I can imagine the difficulty that must very frequently occur in 

 this part of tlic process. Little more than an expansion of the wings is accomplished 

 so far ; wlien the wings are set, so as not to droop or fall backwards, the insect is to 

 be removed from the setting board and the legs turned out by means of strong 

 needles. If the wings are set, I venture to affirm that no proper arrangement of 

 the legs can be accomplished ; the legs must be as immovable as tlie wings. 



