282 APPENDIX I. 



hind forward ; yet not altogether, for as soon as the 

 hinder part has begun to stiffen (which can readily be 

 detected by withholding the breath for a moment) the 

 portion next in front should receive partial attention, 

 and the caterpillar moved backward and forward, round 

 and round over the flame. During this process any 

 tendency of the caterpillar to assume unnatural posi- 

 tions may be corrected at least in part by with- 

 drawing it from the oven and manipulating it ; during 

 inflation, the parts about the head should be the last to 

 dry and should be kept over the flame until a rather 

 forcible touch will not cause it to bend. 



To secure the best results, it is essential that the 

 oven should not be too hot ; the flame should not be 

 more than an inch high, and its tip should be one or 

 two inches from the bottom of the oven. 



When the skin of the caterpillar will yield at no 



FIG. 196. Wire bent into shape to insert into the caterpillar ; not enlarged. 



point, it is ready for mounting. The pin is taken 

 from the straw, and the caterpillar skin, which often 

 adheres to the straw, must be gently removed with 

 some delicate, blunt instrument, or with the finger 

 nail. 



A piece of wire a little more than twice the length of 

 the caterpillar is next cut, and, by means of forceps, 

 bent as in Fig. 196, the tips a little incurved ; a lit- 

 tle shellac* is placed at the distal extremity of the 

 loop, the wire is held by the forceps so as to prevent 

 the free ends of the wire from spreading, and they are 

 introduced into the empty body of the caterpillar as far 

 as the forceps will allow ; holding the loop and gently 

 opening the forceps, the caterpillar is now pushed over 



* To prepare this, the sheets of dark shellac should be prefer- 

 red to the light, and dissolved in forty per cent alcohol. 



