348 



METHODS IN THE ART OF TAXIDERMY. 



boxes and a free use of chloroform or bisulphide of carbon. According 

 to Mr. Smith the principal enemy in the Museum collection is An- 

 ther mis vamis^ though Trogoderma is not uncommon. A large 

 number of boxes received from North Carolina, containing principally 

 Coleoptera, were found to be infested with Trogoderma. Bisul- 

 phide of carbon was freely used, and naphthaline cones were placed in 

 all the boxes. For a while no larvae developed, and throughout the' 

 summer the boxes remained free. With the approach of cold weather, 

 and when the cones were nearly all evaporated, it was found that a 

 very general development of larvae had begun, all of them Trogo- 

 derma., and none of them more than two to three millimetres in length, 

 most of them apparently just hatched. This was in December. The 

 entire collection was scrutinized and an occasional Anihernus larva 

 was found but no other 7'r^^crc»(^^r?;m, even in the most exposed boxes. 



The following is from Walter Hough's excellent paper on "The 

 Preservation of Museum Specimens from Insects and the Effects of 

 Dampness," in the Smithsonian Report for 1887; Vol. II, pp. 549-558. 

 The quotations which we make from this article will be found useful 

 to the taxidermist, furrier, entomologist, botanist and the housewife : 



"There are several classes of substances to be poisoned, in which 

 the colors, fabric, or character of material, and therefore the kind of 

 poison and the strength of solution, are important factors. For 

 instance, goods not fast dyed (especially cotton), or which are dyed 

 with colors that contain solutions, will start; also fabrics or substances 

 which may be corroded or hardened, or otherwise injured, as feathers, 

 fur, dressed deer-skin, etc. Too strong a solution may also cause a 

 deposit on fur, etc., with a dulling effect. As a test for this, a black 

 feather should be dipped in the solution, if it is of corrosive sublimate 

 or arsenic in alcohol. If the solution be too strong, it will produce a 

 white coating when dry. Any solution should exert its action in two 

 ways, first to repel the adult insect, and second to destroy the hatched 

 larva. Pungent odors are noxious to moths and the higher orders of 

 insects, but this is hardly true in the case of the beetles to which we 

 have before alluded. The pungency of odor can not be made to last 

 long, so that the poisoning quality is of prime importance. The sub- 

 stances used for solutions are deadly poisons, and no one who has not 

 had experience in handling them had better undertake to apply 

 them. Corrosive sublimate will attack the finger-nails and the skin. 

 It is also volatile. Arsenic is prejudicial to the health ; the dust, it is 

 said, produces catarrh, both gastric and nasal, though this has not been 

 confirmed by observation. 



