i6 INTRODUCTION. 



Lastly, places in which to store the insects, when caught and set, are required. The best 

 are English-made mahogany cabinets, the drawers eighteen inches square, and about two inches 

 deep, with a glass cover to each drawer, and a camphor cell round each. Such cabinets cost 

 from;[f 1 to ;^i-5 a drawer in England, so are very expensive ; but there is nothing like them for 

 preserving the specimens. The next best things are cork-lined store boxes with a single cam- 

 phor cell, and fitting very closely. Any good native carpenter can turn out such boxes, and 

 instead of cork, sola pith can be used ; cut into strips and pasted on the top and bottom of the 

 box, with a double layer of moderately thick paper over it, it answers all purposes. The most 

 useful size for store boxes is eighteen inches long, twelve broad, and three deep. If the boxes 

 are all made of the same size, they can be packed very easily into a larger outer box, which is 

 an additional security against mites and mould, the two great enemies to the collector in India. 

 Such store boxes do not require glass covers. The supply of camphor in each box should 

 be kept up most carefully, or else mites will destroy in a very short time the results of 

 one's labors, and as an additional protection, if the insides of the boxes are occasionally painted 

 over with a few drops of oil of aniseed, lemon, grass oil, or any "essential" oil to be 

 obtained at a chemist's, mites will never shew themselves. Should they do so, a few 

 drops of benzine or benzine collas dropped on the specimens affected, will destroy 

 every mite without injuring the specimens in the least if the benzine is pure, but the 

 benzine should first be tried on a commoni specimen to ascertain its purityj or rare specimens may 

 be injured. Very often an insect will go greasy. To remedy this one has only to immerse 

 the specimen bodily, pin and all, in a bath of benzine ; take it out after a few minutes 

 and leave the benzine to evaporate, and it will be found that, not only has the specimen 

 not been injured at all, but that the grease has entirely disappeared, and the specimen is 

 restored to all its original beauty. While the benzine is evaporating, and until the colours 

 return, the specimen should be kept in a separate box in which the air can circulate. 



Each specimen, when caught, should have a small label with the exact locality where 

 caught, and date when captured, placed, face downwards, on the pin beneath it. A collection 

 should be airanged in rows, one specimen behind another; the males at the head of each 

 row, the females following, and the name of the species ending each row. When a 

 collection embraces specimens from various localities, it is an advantage to place a label at 

 the side of and below each specimen, shewing where it was taken. This does away with 

 the necessity of taking up each specimen to read the label beneath it, when its place of capture 

 is required to be known, but under no circumstances should the label beneath the specimen 

 be dispensed with, since from every point of view, a collection of insects with the specimens 

 all properly ' localized ' is worth far more than one in which the localities of the specimens 

 have not been retained. 



For further useful information on these, and on all other matters connected with the 

 collection of insects, including the collecting and management of eggs, caterpillars, and 

 chrysalises for breeding, we would recommend collectors to obtain Dr. H. Guard Knaggs* 

 " Lepidopterists' Guide for the use of the young collector," published by John Van Voorst, 

 I, Paternoster Row, London, E.G., the new illustrated edition of which can be bought 

 for one shilling. 



