544 ENTOMOLOGICAL INSTRUMENTS, &C. 



and longer, but for Lepidoptwa, a stouter kind, as short 

 'whites, are best. Next, take the Coleoptera and He- 

 miptera that, as before directed, you have laid by on 

 blotting-paper after immersion, and begin your ope- 

 rations, selecting the largest first. The pin should be 

 stuck through the middle of the right-hand elytrum a , 

 and about one third of its whole length should emerge 

 above the insect. Some foreign collectors, probably 

 having in view its more convenient examination with a 

 microscope under the glass of a drawer, bring it nearer 

 the head of the pin : while the English ones, on the con- 

 trary, studying the most ornamental position of their 

 specimens, leave only enough of the point free to fix 

 them safely in their drawers b . Both these methods are 

 open to objection. When the insect is too near the head 

 of the pin, it is difficult to fix it in your cabinet without 

 bending the wire ; and there is danger, without great 

 care, of injuring the specimen when you put it in or take 

 it out. Again : When the legs of your insect rest on the 

 surface they collect the dust and dirt, are very liable to 

 be broken, and the length of the pin above it is incon- 

 venient when you have occasion to examine any one 

 under a lens. Lepidoptera, however, which are never 

 thus examined, may always be transfixed in this way, 

 which sets them off to the greatest advantage. 



Some insects, especially of the beetle tribe, are so ex- 

 tremely minute that it is next to an impossibility to get 

 a pin through them without injuring, and often destroy- 

 ing them. By using fine needles, or very slender pins 



a PLATE XXIV. FIG. 8. 



b In the figure just quoted the artist has represented the insect 

 as transfixed in this way. 



