10 APHORISMATA KNTOMOLOGICA, 



worthiness of fame to the individual; but the society of entomologists 

 should not be, and it is to be hoped will not be, blind to his merits, 

 and, at all events, so far as the pages of the "Aphorismata Entomologica" 

 can throw lustre on Avhomever or whatever they treat of, the invention 

 shall be duly chronicled, even though the inventor's own name cannot be 

 handed down with it to future admiring generations, but he must remain, 

 perhaps for ever, "the Great Unknown." 



On second thoughts, I think I will adopt the plan of beginning with 

 the more simple mode, from which we shall advance, by one intermediate 

 stage, to the more ^recherche' one. The analytical and the synthetical 

 method has each its separate advantages. 



Now the old procedure was -to extend the butterfly or moth with 

 one card brace impressed over each wing. Of course there were very 

 many different degrees of excellence in the exercise of the art of doing 

 this, the great thing being to have the wings exactly corresponding in 

 extension on each side, and also, if I may so express myself, flat, in 

 a sloping direction, namely, sloping down from the body of the insect 

 to the surface on which it might be placed. This is accomplished by 

 slanting the brace when stuck into the cork. In very many instances 

 it answers well, and the 'tout ensemble' is good; but on the other 

 hand, in by no means a few cases, and this not to be guarded against, 

 the wings become hollowed down in the middle, causing at the same 

 time a turning up of their edges, the effect of which, to the entomological 

 eye, is exceedingl}" bad. For a sample of this mode of extension, see 

 the plate. To remedy the defect caused by the practice of this mode, 

 it occurred to some ingenious person — the date of the discovery I do 

 not know — to support the wing from underneath by means of a supple- 

 mental card brace, before pressing it down with the one from above, 

 this latter being placed more towards the edge than the lower one, 

 thus pressing down the outside of the wing from the middle part, which 

 is raised by the brace beneath; the effect of the whole being to give 

 it an elegant and graceful rounded appearance. For an illustration of 

 this, also, see the plate. 



But here '^I maun premeese" that in both these ways of extending 

 lepidopterous insects, as well as in the third, to be yet discoursed of, 

 the great thing, at least it is a 'sine qua non,' is to have the pin 

 put perfectly straight into the insect, for if it is not, the fly, though 

 ever so well set, will not look well; and it should also be put a good 

 way through, for a reason to be hereafter mentioned when treating of 



