Setting and Mounting of Beetles 



&c., exserted stiffly in the proper position. It is best 

 to lay them for a moment on a damp sheet of blotting 

 paper, and remove with one of our flat brushes and 

 clean water any superfluous gum which may have 

 become attached to the legs, antennae, &c., or has 

 clogged the pubescence of the general surface of the 

 body. Then taking one of our card slips, appropriate 

 in width to the size of the beetle, we deposit on one 

 end of it a small drop of the strong gum or fish glue, 

 or in the case of a very small or fragile beetle a spot 

 of tragacanth, and with the forceps, or, if the beetle 

 be very small, a fine paint brush, we place our beetle 

 exactly on the spot of gum which should be then just 

 beneath the thorax. Finally, after leaving strip and 

 mounted beetle for a minute or two to dry the gum, 

 we cut off, by means of scissors or guillotine, that section 

 of the card which bears the beetle, leaving sufficient 

 margin of card all round the insect, and the specimen 

 should be so placed that while the tips of the 

 antennae almost touch the upper edge of the card, 

 some little space remains between its lower tarsi and 

 the bottom edge. 



Nothing then remains but to run a pin through 

 the middle of the lower part of the card, draw the card 

 with its mounted beetle half-way up the pin, and the 

 specimen is ready to be put away in store box or 

 cabinet. 



One thing, however, is essential, each specimen must 

 bear, either written on the back of the card which carries 

 it, or written or printed on a small slip of paper which 



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