160 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [15:4— Apr., 1919 



serves a great variety of purposes other than the making of insect 

 mounts. It should be used hot. 



The insects, of course, have already been caught and killed and 

 spread. The beetle or bug or wasp or small moth should be glued 

 to the watch crystal by first touching a drop of the glue to the 

 center of the crystal and then pressing the insect to the drop. 

 The watch crystals are then cemented to the block by drawing up 

 the hot wax with a small pipette or pen filler, and squirting it around 

 the edge of the crystal that fits a bit below the surface of the block. 

 This makes an attractive margin for the specimen and also fills 

 every chink and crack and keeps out the museum pests. It 

 requires a little practice to do a neat, clean job, but the third 

 attempt will be a charming success. The specimen blocks may be 

 small and made with a single hole, or they may be larger and con- 

 tain a row or group of holes and of specimens. Red cedar wood, 

 unstained, makes a very attractive mount. 



The value of this plan of mounting is, that the specimens are 

 attractive, they can be seen on both sides, they can be passed 

 around in the class without damaging, and they will keep inde- 

 finitely. The labor required is not so great as one might think. 

 The materials should be assembled in quantities sufficient to last 

 for some time, then when some interesting specimen is found, it 

 takes but a short time to get out the box of supplies and make 

 the mount. 



Fig. 2 shows a block with four holes and specimens of different 

 species of scarabaeid beetles "Tumble bugs." It also shows 

 another well known method of mounting insects by using two 

 plates of glass (old photograph negatives) separated by wood strips 

 or cardboard. In this mount, it is well to let the glass extend a 

 trifle beyond the frame and then fill in the space with plaster paris. 

 This makes it dermestid proof. After drying, it is then finished 

 with passe-partout binding. 



These plans of mounting are most too difficult for the children 

 to do, but they are well worth while for the teacher to make, and 

 have on hand for supplementary illustrative material to add to the 

 children's interest and pleasure and knowledge. 



