HIGH FLAT- SETTING. 205 



must either cut it down yourself or have your boards specially 

 made for you; hence the difference in height up the pin Mr. Cant 

 complains of. I always have my groove deepened in a V shape, 

 and have found the shape answer very well. I hope some of the 

 leading^ entomologists will give us their views on this most 

 important subject. 



Instow, Devon, July, 1888, 



K. M. HlNCHLIFF. 



For some time I have been most dissatisfied both with 

 my own setting and that of my correspondents, and at the 

 commencement of this season finally determined to abandon 

 concave for flat-setting, and am therefore pleased to see this 

 matter brought before our notice, and the latter style 

 advocated (Entom. 169). Although personally I prefer the 

 flat-setting, and like the insects set tolerably high on the 

 pin, I must confess that the length of pin between the thorax 

 and pin-head, supposed to be necessary in high-setting, takes 

 away half the beauty of a well-set collection, as one cannot see 

 the insects with any distinction through an army of pins, and if 

 these be gilt this is no easy matter. It is much preferable to use 

 shorter and stifl'er pins, which do not bend nearly so easily as the 

 long thin ones, and set the insects nearly at the top of the pin ; 

 this is quite high enough for all practical purposes, and the insects 

 can easily be moved by the use of forceps. If the pins be black 

 they are scarcely visible, and the result is most satisfactory. 



There is one great advantage in flat-setting that Mr. Cant 

 does not mention in his article on this subject, viz., that really 

 good insects, which are only taken very occasionally^ are rarely 

 set in the English fashion on just the same pitched board, 

 and thus, when a series is at last obtained, the insects, as a rule, 

 have differently concaved surfaces, which gives a disapjiointingly 

 uneven appearance. Again, if we have all our boards of one 

 size filled up with several species and have to set the remainder 

 on larger boards, the result is that the latter have a much flatter 

 surface than the former, and we find our series consists of 

 specimens with wings of different concavity, which is very 

 discouraging. Now with flat-setting all this is avoided. If a 

 series be partly set on one sized board and the remainder on 

 anotlier the result is Uie same, as there can only be one shape in 



