I20 PINNING INSECTS, ETC. 



cabinet. If hastily killed and distorted by being pinched, with 

 the scales rubbed off and otherwise mangled, the value of such a 

 specimen is diminished either for study or neat appearance in the 

 collection. 



Pinning Insects^ &fc, — The pin should be thrust through the 

 thorax of most in>ects. The Coleoptera, however, should be 

 pinned through the right wing-cover ; many of the Hemiptera are 

 best pinned through the scutellum. The specimens should all be 

 pinned at an equal height, so that about one-fourth of the pin 

 should project above the insect. For very minute insects the 

 smallest pins are used. Small Coleoptera are usually gummed 

 upon cards. This is done by gumming promiscuously upon a 

 sheet of card-board ; now place the beetle upon it, drag out the 

 limbs with a pin, and then leave it to dry. The card must be cut 

 afterwards around your insect so as to suit it. When the card" 

 board has been filled, and you are desirous of separating the 

 species, cut out the insects with finely poirited scissors, pass the 

 pin through the card and in a bit of cork. The gum is composed 

 of three parts of tragacanth to one of arable, both in powder, to 

 be mixed in water containing a grain of corrosive sublimate, with- 

 out which it will not keep, until of a consistency just thick enough 

 to run. As this gum is of an extremely absorbant nature, nearly 

 a fortnight is required before it can be properly made. It is advis- 

 able to keep adding a little water and stir it every few days until 

 it is of the proper consistency ; dissolve the grain of corrosive sub- 

 limate in the water which is poured first upon the gum. 



In spring and early summer thousands of minute species of the 

 Coleoptera may be captured in the air with the net, especially just 

 at night. During the summer and autumn a great many nocturnal 

 species may be captured near a light placed at an open window, or 

 out of doors. They are found in every variety of situation — on 

 plants, in decomposing animal and vegetable matter, in mush- 

 rooms, under bark of trees, under stones, especially in moist and 

 shady places ; many are found creeping on the ground in dusty 

 roads. Some of the most beautiful beetles are found in the excre- 

 ments of animals and under stones. Many peculiar species not 



