APEOBISMATA ENTOMOLOGIOA. 171 



straight in the cork in the groove, into which the body is just allowed to enter, 

 holding the end of the cotton thread at the lower side, the one nest you, of 

 the wood, with your left hand, wind it once round the right hind wing of the 

 insect; then, holding the thread round tlie lower part of the upper end of the 

 wood, and also with the left hand, just, and only just, sufficiently tight to keep 

 the wings in place, adjust the wings with the point of a large common thick 

 pin, held in your right hand, to the desired extent, and then "lightly t(h)read" 

 a sufficient number of times round in the same way, so as to keep all parts 

 of the wings close to the shape of the wood; then, hut not till tlien, completing, 

 namely, first the right hand side — for otherwise if the threads be crossed and 

 re-crossed there will be great dan,'er, in taking them oiF, of breaking ihe 

 antennsB, or in some way damaging the specimen — perform tlie same operation 

 over the left hind wing. 



Be, I say, very careful in again unwinding the thread, or woe betide the 

 antennte of your specimen, and with them will go its especial value in the eyes 

 of the collector. The best way, however, is to "cut the Gordian knot," namely, 

 cut the threads with a penknife against one side of the wood, or, better still, 

 against both sides, and then the fly is at once taken off without further trouble. 

 The whole spool of cotton costing only two or three pence, the time that 

 would be required for saving the thread is gained, and amply repays the cost 

 of a new one; and indeed, even if the different short threads were to be 

 preserved, you would find that they cannot well be kept without becoming 

 entangled together. 



'ANOTHER MODE. 



The turned pieces of wood answer most admirably when you are quietly 

 stationed at home, or fixed for a time sufficient in any other place, but they 

 by no means suit the "locomotive department," or, rather, it does not suit 

 them. To meet this difficulty, you can have recourse to either of the three 

 following expedients : — First, when out collecting, and especially if you catch 

 a large number of specimens, do not attempt to set any of your insects at all: 

 on the whole I recommend this plan. You will find by the adoption of the 

 method of relaxing hereinafter mentioned, that insects may be set quite as Avell, 

 one may almost say even better, than when quite fresh caught. By keeping 

 them also till the winter, or against a "rainy day," you will have the "Use of 

 sunshine" for collecting, and be able to perform that afterwards leisurely which 

 cannot be well done in haste. Secondly, by having your extending boards, of 

 which more anon, narrow in width, you can tie a number of the woods on each 

 of them, and then extend your insects with the threads in a row the same as 

 if singly and loose. Or, thirdly, you can have your extending boards and pieces 

 of wood, so to call them, in one, as it were, combining the excellencies of 

 both: as thus — on the board, made in the ordinary way, namely, a thin piece 

 of cork, which, by the way, you can procure at any good shoemaker's, glued 



