xxviii EcKOPEA.v Butterflies and Moths. 



found inconvenient on this account. Another disadvantage is, tliat in striking at a flying insect 

 \vc run the risk of hitting it v.'ith the stick, which, it will be remembered, passes through the 

 middle of the net ; in which case we are very liable either to spoil or to lose our prize. On 

 the whole, the ring-net is perhaps to be preferred. Before speaking of the practical use of the 

 net, it will be better to consider the necessary adjuncts of boxes and pins. 



Pi)is. — The pins used for butterflies and moths must be proportioned to the size of the insects 

 for which they are intended. A large insect on a slender pin is very inconvenient, and a small 

 insect may be utterly destroyed by using too large a pin. Ordinary pins are too short and thick 

 for convenient use, and long slender pins, which may be purchased from the dealers in objects of 

 natural history under the name of " entomological pins," are employed for the purpose. They 

 are often gilt, to diminish their liability to corrosion ; and, being long and slender, they are 

 sometimes liable to bend, and require care in their use. Many entomologists use a curved pair of 

 entomological pliers (which must be ridged in such a direction as to grasp the pin firmly, without 

 slipping) to remove pinned insects from one box to another. This instrument will be found very 

 useful at home (after }'ou have learned to handle it), but is not much needed for field work. The 

 Continental and American entomologists generally use very long pins, and set the insects high up, 

 whereas most English entomologists set them rather low down on the pin, as we shall explain when 

 we come to speak of setting. Some collectors carry a pincushion fastened to their button-hole or 

 hung round their neck with a string, and others simply stick pins in their collecting-boxes. 



CoUcctiug-boxcs, &c. — Many moths and small butterflies will sit quiet till you get home, if 

 enclosed in a pill-box, and can then be killed and set at leisure. For this purpose we must carry a 

 supply of well-fitting chip or pasteboard boxes, sufficiently strong to avoid breakage, and of 

 diff"erent sizes. Dr. Knaggs recommends that the chip boxes should be carefully covered at the 

 ends with a small piece of calico attached with shoemaker's paste, and drawn down all round below 

 the lid, so as to prevent the lid coming out. Others brush round the inside edges with liquid 

 glue for the same purpose. These boxes may either be carried in two large outside pockets, 

 or in a satchel of any convenient construction, divided into at least two compartments ; for 

 when a box is filled it must be at once transferred to another compartment. The full and 

 empty boxes must on no account be mixed together, and only one insect must be put into 

 each box. But many insects must be killed when caught, such as all the largest species, 

 including Butterflies, Sp/iiiigida^, and all Bovihyces, except Lii/wsidcs, and any other very active 

 insects, which do not sit still in a box, but are liable to knock themselves about in it and 

 spoil their plumage. These require to be killed and pinned on the spot. In the case of 

 slender-bodied insects, a practised hand can kill them with a sharp nip under the wings^ or, in 

 the case of small insects, a touch with a finger-nail ; but, unless done carefully, this rough mode 

 is liable to damage them, and it will not answer at all for thick-bodied insects. To kill these, 

 some use chloroform, and others a bottle prepared with cyanide of potassium ; while others, 

 again, employ a solution of oxalic acid or oil of tobacco, and prick the insect with a pin dipped 

 in the liquid. Tobacco-smoke, ammonia, and sulphur matches are al.so used by some entomologists; 

 but ammonia and sulphur are liable to discolour many insects, especially green ones, and c}-anide 

 of potassium and oxalic acid are both deadly poisons, and even chloroform should be used 

 with caution. Another objection to chloroform is that, although it will soon stupefy an insect, 

 it is liable soon to recover from the fumes ; while if it receives an over-dose it may become too 

 stiff to be set afterwards. But supposing the insect killed, we choose a pin proportioned to its 

 size ; and, if it is an insect of sufficient size, we take it between the finger and tluunb of the 

 left hand, and insert the pin as straight as possible through the middle of the thorax. Small 



