REARING TN8B0TB 26] 



purposes card-board boxes auswer sufficiently well. It is a g 1 plan 



:ii the beginning of :i season to strengthen all your boxes l>\ 

 Btrap of tape or calico firmly glued :it the ti>i> and bottom. I 

 killing box anj tin box or canister, « iib a closely fitting lid, capable 

 of containing one hundred pill-boxes « ill be found n> answ 



Jetting boards can be bought ready-made of the smallesl sizes. 

 I . are made by gluing a strip of thick cork on a thin Blip of deal ; 

 the cork musl be thick enough to enable a groove to be cul into it, 

 deep enough to hold the bodies of the bisects i" be set, and to leave 

 sufficient depth foi the pin to hold firmly without reaching the deal. 

 The cork on each side of the groove should be smoothed off with a 

 gentle curve, so thai the wings dry in a good position. The deal 

 backing projects beyond the cork so as i<> slide intoa groove if re- 

 quired, and it is convenient to have a deal cupboard of drying-1 

 w ith handle at top and perforated zinc door, having grooves on each 

 side into which the Betting-boards can be slid. Bach heard should 

 be papered with thin while paper. 



" At the beginning of a season setting-boards may be washed or 

 brushed over with advantage with a weak solution of oxide <>f zinc; 

 it fills up old pinholes and makes them look clean. 



" Always set your insectsas soon as you kill them; they are then 

 much more easj to set, and retain their position hitter w hen drj . 



•■ When pill boxes are filled, keep them cool to prevent the in 

 from Buttering ; it' glass boxes, keep them also in the dark. 



•• Many Bpecieswhen firsl taken will flutter in the boxes and injure 

 themselves ; for these it is wi 11 v\ hen collecting to cany a small phial 

 of chloroform and a zinc collecting-box, cork-lined, into which you 



can at once pin your captures; the cork should he damped to 



them fresh. Touching a pill-box w ith a finger moistened with chloro- 

 form will kill the insect inside. Too much chloroform is apt to stiffen 

 the nerves of the wings and interfere \\ ith setting. 



•• By breeding Micro-lepidoptera, manj speci< - nol otherw ise easily 

 obtainable may be added to a collection, and the habits <>f others in 



the larva state may he studied with much interest. For this purpose 

 a few wide mouthed glaSS hollies should he ohlailled with cork- lo 

 tit. so thai the -mall larva' can be placed in them with fresh I 

 the food kept fresh by exclusion of air. If mould should app. ar. Un- 

 cork can lie replaced by muslin oranet tied over. 1 w< . i liardlj ad- 

 vise a travelling collector to attempt this method, although 1 have 

 adopted it with some Buccess; hut in a stationary camp it is most inter- 

 esting and comparatively easy. 



" Cork-lined store-boxes are of course required into which to re- 

 move the insects when sufficiently dried on the -. ttiug-boards These, 

 ::- well as the pins and setting-boards with drj : • hold them, 



