44 THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE 



cherry or black walnut, though the drawers, all but the 

 front, may be of pine. When made, the drawers should 

 be lined on the bottom with insect cork, and this and the 

 sides, up to the glass, covered with white paper. If 

 the paper be ruled both ways with blue lines one-fourth 

 of an inch apart, this will facilitate putting specimens in 

 with regularity, and will not detract from the looks. 



Some use boxes made in the form of books, which are 

 convenient on some accounts, but cannot be recommended 

 except as a temporary expedient. 



Museum pests are great destroyers of collections. 

 These consist of one or more species of Dermestidse, a 

 family of small beetles, which in the larva state eat any 

 dead animal matter if it be dry, and one or more species 

 of small mites. Camphor gum wrapped in a piece of 

 thin cloth and put into a corner of the drawer, or a 

 naphthaline cone pinned in, will destroy the mites, but 

 the Dermestes must be sought and killed. Nothing short 

 of vigilance will keep them out. When a cabinet is free 

 from them, careful guarding against their introduction 

 in new S2>cci]iiciis added to it will generally insure im- 

 munity from them. AVhere specimens are suspected of 

 being infested, they should be placed in a box away from 

 the cabinet and watched, and not introduced until known 

 to be free from these pests. 



One of the best means of obtaining good specimens 

 of many butterflies is by raising them from the eggs oi 

 captured larvae. Besides good specimens, a knowledge 

 of the preparatory stages is thus obtained, and this is 

 not less important than the habits and other items we 

 learn about the imagines. It is now well known, chiefly 

 through the investigations of Mr. Edwards, that the 



