78 PRESERVING INSECTS. 
time to time. From that period to this, no living 
insect has been detected in the trunks. The plum- 
age of the birds is as vivid as it was at the time I 
shot them; and the moths and butterflies as splendid 
as when in life ; but most of the other insects, ex- 
cept some of the beetles, have faded. Thus I am 
enabled to say, by actual experiment, that the at- 
mosphere of spirit of turpentine will allow neither 
acarus nor any insect to live in it; and, moreover, 
that it does not injure the colour of preserved birds, 
and furs, and insects, provided they do not come ‘in 
contact with the spirit of turpentine. 
I have used corrosive sublimate in paste for years; 
I have applied the solution to my hat, and to the long 
Indian arrows (which are very subject to be eaten by 
the worm), with complete success; and here, in 
Europe, with equal success, I have applied it to la- 
dies’ ostrich feathers, to camel-hair brushes, and to 
the lining of my carriage. The solution has been the 
remote cause of my discovering an entirely new me- 
thod of preserving specimens in natural history ; and 
which method at once shows upon what erroneous 
principles the old method has been, and is still 
conducted. To conclude, the solution has proved 
my best support; without it, I could have done 
nothing. 
«¢‘ Hoc solamen erat, sylvis hoc victor abibam.” 
