THE MUSEUM. 



87 



choice; the universe is my kingdom 

 and this is my throne. 



J. A. Cottle, 

 Fort Klamath, Oregon. 



A Few Useful Bits of Knowledge 

 for Collectors of Lepidoptera. 



Collectors of butterflies and moths 

 have doubtless noticed that many spec- 

 imens become very oily after they 

 have been mounted and put away in a 

 collection. In some specimens the 

 body only is thus affected, while in 

 others the wings also become saturated 

 with oil. This renders an otherwise 

 perfect insect very unslightly, and it 

 becomes an eyesore to a well kept col- 

 lection. 



The fact that insects become oily is 

 probably due to the separating out of 

 the fatty matter in their bodies on dry- 

 ing. An insect collection is usually 

 kept in a warm dry room, and the fat- 

 ty matter in the insects bodies becomes 

 melted by the warmth penetrates the 

 body walls and appears on the cover- 

 ing of hairy scales outside, thus making 

 them very unslightly appearing. 



Formerly, when such an insect was 

 noticed in my collection it was prompt- 

 ly removed, and a new one put in its 

 place, unless the insect was very rare 

 and no duplicate was obtainable, in 

 which case it was suffered to remain. 

 Some species, of which I will cite Sarn- 

 ia ceanotlii as an example, will be- 

 come oily before they have been in 

 ones collection a year. As it costs too 

 much time and money to be obliged to 

 replace such specimens with fresh ones 

 every year, I determined to find some 

 cheap and sure method for removing 

 the oil from these insects. As a re- 

 sult I have lately discovered the fol- 

 lowing remedy: 



When an insect is noticed to be get- 

 ting oily, go to the nearest paint or 

 hardware store and buy a quart of ben- 

 zine which will cost about ten cents. 

 Next take a bowl large enough to ad- 

 mit the insect to be treated, and half 

 till it with benzine. Put the insect 

 into the liquid, and see that it is entire- 

 ly immersed, cover the bowl with a 

 plate and allow to remain for about an 

 hour. As the vapor of benezine is 

 imflammable, the above operations 

 must be done in a room where there 

 is no fire or flame of any kind. When 

 the insect has remained for the time 

 stated, take it out of the liquid and al- 

 low it to dry. In about five minutes 

 it will be dry, and ready to go back 

 into the cabinet, while all traces of 

 the oil will have disappeared. Ben- 

 zine does not relax the muscles, so 

 mounted insects may be treated by 

 this method without their wings droop- 

 ing any. 



If anyone has the misfortune to 

 break a wing or antenina off of an in- 

 sect, take an insect pin or a needle 

 and dip it into a little liquid glue. Some 

 of this will adhere to the pin, so that 

 by rubbing it across the fractured end 

 of the wing or antenna and replacing 

 the member in its proper place on the 

 insect, it will readily adhere. Insects 

 can thus be mended so neatly that it 

 will be impossible to discover that they 

 were ever broken. 



All imperfect rare insects caught 

 should be saved, as it is often possible 

 to make a good cabinet specimen from 

 two ones. A nick in the wing of one 

 can be concealed by rubbing a little 

 liquid glue on the under surface of the 

 defective wing near the nick, and then 

 cutting a slight piece from the oorres- 

 ponding part of another poor speci- 



