106 NOTES ON THE COLLECTING AND 



with them) apart from the rest; but all "stifling-boxes" (as 

 they are termed by their cockney inventors, and within which 

 Coleoptera will live the term of their natural lives) and other 

 such absurdities, although they may serve to amuse children, 

 are worse than useless. 



Next, as regards 



The Modus operandi in mounting Coleoptera. 



Much might be said — this being perhaps the most import- 

 ant item for our consideration, and one on which the value 

 of our collections in a scientific point of view, apart from 

 their symmetry of arrangement (which has a charm essen- 

 tially its own), almost exclusively depends. 



Imprimis, then, let the collector provide himself with a 

 strong box, about the size of a dressing-case (small enough 

 to be taken charge of personally whilst on his travels, and 

 which must not be allowed ever to be treated as oaggage) : 

 a leather cover to strap over it will be found desirable, and 

 will render it easy of carriage when on the move. Let this 

 box contain a gigantic wide-mouthed bottle (to be nearly 

 filled with laurel leaves, cut up and bruised) ; a smaller one for 

 spirits of wine (which may sometimes be required for the 

 large and dark species, though it is generally better to avoid 

 this mode of preserving them when setting boards are to be 

 had); another, of the same size, for gum (composed of three 

 parts of Tragacanth to one of Arabic, both in powder; to be 

 mixed in water containing a grain of Corrosive Sublimate, 

 without which it will not keep, until of a consistency just 

 thick*" enough to run) ; a small, partitioned box, to hold pins 



* It may be well to state that this gum is of an extremely absorbent 

 nature, and that nearly a fortnight is usually required before it can be 

 properly made. The best plan is, to keep adding a little water (and 

 stirring it) every few days until it is of the proper consistency, which 

 should be so thick that the bottle may be almost inverted without its 



