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 fea- 

 thers themselves, not having received the poison, 

 were still liable to injury from insects, especially in 

 tropical climates, I always took the precaution to 

 have spirit of turpentine in the box. In order to 

 make myself clearly understood, I -will describe ex- 

 actly 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 



