54 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 



Take two rectangular plates of glass of the same size, 

 large enough for your specimen, or specimens, for this 

 method is admirably adapted for life-story collections. 

 Cut a strip of thin wood as wide as the thickness of your 

 largest specimen, — berry-box or cigar-box wood is good, 



brush over one side with ink to blacken it, and, with 



glue or shellac, stick the wood around the edges of one of 

 the glass plates. You now have a box with glass bottom 

 and wooden sides as deep as your thickest specimen. i 

 Arrange your specimens in order: egg cluster; single 

 eo-g- : larv^ of increasino^ sizes ; moulted skins, if you have 

 them ;" pupae, male and female ; cocoons ; pupae cases, from 

 which the insects have emerged; leaves eaten by the 

 larvae; male and female adult insect. Fasten in place 

 with minute drops of glue where the specimen touches 

 the glass,2 and, if desired, glue a neat label under each 

 specimen, giving perhaps the date of the different proc- 

 esses represented. Put the other glass on for a cover and 

 glue a strip of black paper or passe-partout around the edge 

 of the whole just wide enough to hide the wooden frame. 

 You now have a series of specimens that tell the story of 

 an insect's life from beginning to end in its reality. 

 You can see both sides of your insects, — head, mouth 

 parts, legs, feet, wings, — all equally well.^ 



1 " Insect mounting strips," made in one piece, to fold together, like a 

 honey section, for cases 2 x 5, 4 x 5, and 5x7 inches, and of different widths, 

 are now obtainable from the A. I. Root Co., Medina, Ohio, at about ^1.25 

 per thousand. 



2 Glue sometimes dries so hard that it scales off the glass. To prevent 

 this I add to an ounce bottle about twenty drops of glycerine. 



3 Insects are often marked and colored differently above and below, 

 so that this is no small matter in deciding on a method of preparation for 

 imparting clear and complete conceptions to children. 



