[8o 



THE MUSEUM. 



the bright pini being as good as the 

 Japanned which are said not to rust; 

 but if you have jour specimen thor- 

 oughly dried I do not think there is 

 any danger of the bright pins rufting. 

 Leastwise that has been my exper- 

 ience. They are of various sizes. 

 The smallest pin should be used that 

 will safely hold the specimen without 

 bending. 



The spreading-board is used for 

 holding your specimen while drying. 

 The wings are confined in the position 

 desired by narrow strips of paper. 

 The legs, when it is desired to have 

 them spread out, are held by pins 

 crossing over the leg. The pins are 

 thrust into a narrow strip of cork laid 

 along the middle of the groove in your 

 spreading-board. 



If you are intending to become a 

 student of entcmiology and learn of the 

 the structure of the little creatures 

 (and tell me who would be content to 

 only collect them without study?) 

 there are some other tools you will 

 find almost essential. Among these 

 are a good microscope or magnifying 

 glass, a few needles in wood handles, 

 a small scalpel — a penknife will do — 

 and a guide to the study, of which 

 there are many good ones now in 

 print. There are many good books 

 you can get all the way from 35 cents 

 to $4.50. The books of Comstock, 

 Packard, Weed are excellent. Often- 

 times you can get Government Re- 

 ports and monographs free of charge, 

 simply for the asking. The various 

 state experiment station bulletins have 

 good articles in them and may be got- 

 ten by applying for them to the di- 

 rector in charge of the station. 



The great question which will 

 front the amateur is what is the 

 and most humane way 

 insect and still in a way that will do 

 the least damage and leave the speci- 

 men in the best condition for mount- 

 ing. There are several methods now 

 in use although every entomologist 

 has his own favorite method. About 

 the best way is with what is known as 



con- 

 best 

 of killing an 



the cyanide bottle. To make one of 

 these you procure a rather short bot- 

 tle with as wide a mouth as possible. 

 Then get several lumps of potassium 

 cyanide and break them up about the 

 size of a hickory nut or smaller and 

 lay them evenly upon the boltom of 

 the bottle. Plaster Paris about the 

 constituency of thick cream should then 

 be poured in until the cyanide is just 

 evenly covered and the plaster allowed 

 to set. The bottle should be plainly 

 labeled and always kept tightly corked 

 as the fumes are a deadly poison. 

 This makes a very quick way of kill- 

 ing and it is very simple and conven- 

 ient. For the smaller insects a drop 

 of chloroform, ether or benzine is as 

 good as anything. I generally carry a 

 small vial of chloroform with a small 

 camel's hair brush inserted in the cork 

 with me on my tramps. A drop is all 

 you need for an ordinary sized insect. 



Your specimen should be pinned 

 and dried as soon after killing as is 

 convenient as it is liable to become 

 dry and stiff and give you trouble. 

 The time occupied in drying varies. 

 It generally takes from ten days to 

 two weeks to properly prepare it for 

 the cabinet. The dryer it is the bet- 

 ter specimen it makes in the long run. 

 Should you not be ready to mount the 

 specimen you may keep it indefinitely 

 in alcohol. The Lepidoptera cannot 

 be successfully kept in alcohol as a 

 great number of that order are furred, 

 particularly the moths, and when put 

 in a solution the little hairs all cling 

 together and make a sorry looking ob- 

 ject out of your "rarity." But for 

 Coleoptera, Hemiptera, some of the 

 Hymenoptera and Orthoptera the fol- 

 lowing formula; of Batty can be used 

 with success: 



Alcohol 2 oz 



Water 2 oz 



Corrosive sublimate | oz 



To this formuke I generally add a 

 small amount of glycerine. 



It would be out of place in an ar- 

 ticle such as I have tried to make this 

 to say anything as to the characterist- 



