PRESERVING INSECTS. 77 
ing one day an old magazine (I forget now of what 
denomination) in a planter’s house in Essequibo, I 
read the following remark : — “ Spirit of turpentine 
is known to be the most fatal poison to insects.” 
Taking it for granted that the spirit was fatal 
through an atmosphere, as I was sure no insect 
would drink it voluntarily, and I did not see how it 
could be forced down their throats, I put some spirit 
of turpentine into a trunk of preserved skins of 
birds, and into which the moth had found its way. 
The next morning, I saw that the spirit of turpen- 
tine had killed all the moths. In the course of 
time, the use of the corrosive sublimate in alcohol 
succeeded to this, and rendered the spirit of turpen- 
tine wholly unnecessary, wherever the sublimate 
could be applied to every part of the preserved spe- 
cimen. But as on some occasions I only washed 
the inside of the skins, and, in this case, the feathers 
themselves, not having received the poison, were 
still liable to injury from insects, especially in tropi- 
cal climates, I always took the precaution to have 
spirit of turpentine in the box. In order to make 
myself clearly understood, I will describe exactly 
what I did. I bought common hair trunks which 
are sent out with goods from Europe to South 
America; I strewed the bottom of the trunks with 
cotton, upon which I placed the preserved bird- 
skins, and the different insects which I had collected. 
Both birds and insects were placed promiscuously 
in the same trunk. I then saturated a piece of 
sponge with spirit of turpentine, and hung it up in 
a corner of the trunk: I renewed this spirit from 
