CHAPTER VIII. 



CAEE OF A COLLECTION, 



54. WELL PRESERVED SPECIMENS will last "forever and a 

 day," so far as natural decay is concerned. I have handled 

 birds in good state, shot back in the twenties, and have no 

 doubt that some eighteenth century preparations are still ex- 

 tant. The precautions against defilement, mutilation or other 

 mechanical injury, are self-evident, and may be dismissed with 

 the remark, that white plumages, especially if at all greasy, 

 require the most care to guard against soiling. We have, 

 however, to fight for our possessions against a host of ene- 

 mies, individually despicable but collectively formidable, foes 

 so determined that untiring vigilance is required to ward off 

 their attacks even temporarily, whilst in the end they prove 

 invincible. It may be said that to be eaten up by insects is 

 the natural end of all birdskins not sooner destroyed. The 

 matter, therefore, demands particular attention. 



55. INSECT PESTS with which we have to contend belong 

 principally to the two families Tineidce and Dermestidce the 

 former are moths, the latter beetles. The moths are of species 

 identical with, and allied to, the common clothes moth, Tinea 

 flavifrontella, the carpet moth, T. tapetzella, etc., small species 

 observed flying about our apartments and museums, in May and 

 during the summer. The beetles are several rather small thick- 

 set species, principally of the genera Dermestes and Antlirenus. 

 The larvae ("caterpillars" of the moths, and "grubs" of the 

 beetles) appear to be the chief agents of the destruction. The 

 presence of the mature insects is usually readily detected ; on 

 disturbing an infested suite of specimens the moths flutter 

 about, and the beetles crawl as fast as they can into shelter, or 

 simulate death. The insidious larvae, however, are not so easily 

 observed, burrowing as they do among the feathers, or in the 



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