APH0BI8MATA ENTOMOLOOICA. 177 



• SELAXATION. 



I HAVE before alluded by anticipation to this part of my subject, and now 

 proceed ' in medias res ' — relaxation you will find it for yourself, as well as for 

 your insects, in the winter time, when you have perhaps — though it is a thing 

 I never have at present — a little leisui'e oa your hands, in which to set your 

 summer captures to your eyes' content. Thus too, having them flexible 

 before you, you, as it were, "fight your battles o'er again," and can indulge 

 the "flights" of your entomological "Fancy" to any extent. 



Purchase, which you may do for somewhere about a shilling, at a druggist's, 

 a large glass jar, say one foot high, and six inches in diameter. Let it, if 

 possible, have a glass stopper, which, if you live anywhere near a glass manu- 

 factory, you can easily have made, or, if not, a well-fitted cork oae, which 

 you can procure at a cork-cutter's. The mouth of the jar is to be as nearly 

 as possible of the same width as the rest of it. Fill this glass jar with plaster 

 of Paris up to a sufficient height, namely, so far as to leave sufficient depth 

 for any insects you may want to relax between the surface and the cork. 

 Pour on the plaster as much water as it will absorb, any surplus being poured 

 oS', and over it place a round piece of perforated zinc, the size and shape of 

 the orifice of the jar, the object being to keep the wings of the insects from 

 touching the wet surface; and at the same time the holes in the zinc answer 

 admirably for putting the pins of the insects into, so that they are steadied, 

 and in a manner fixed, so as not to shake about if the jar is moved. 



"When you have thus placed the said insects in this way, ^mt the cork or 

 stopper tightly iuto the jar, and in a few hours, more or less according to the 

 size of the specimen, you will have them excellently relaxed, and that without 

 the slightest detriment or damage; the down being as perfect as if they had 

 never been subjected to any such process at all. A tin canister will answer 

 the purpose, but not so well; the jar, especially if it have a glass stopper, 

 being so much more air-tight, and the moisture being therefore the more con- 

 fined. If a cork be used, it should have a piece of fine kid leather round it, 

 to make it fit close ; also, I recommend u basket-work case to guard the lower 

 part of the jar. 



" BOTANICAL SPECIMENS. 



The "saccharine juices" of the following plants and trees when in bloom 

 are more or less attractive to moths, and may be therefore cultivated for 

 the purpose, as well as for their respecti\e merits, or examined in their wild 



state : — 



"Woodbine, or Honeysuckle, {Lonicera Periolymenum.) 

 Valerian, {Valeriana rubra.) 

 Petunia, {Petunia violacea and nyctaginiflora.) 

 Phlox, {Phlox panivulattt, siuweolens, etc.) 



2 A 



