246 APPENDIX. 



with his fine scissars the little creature he intended to 

 examine, and carefully noted every thing that appeared 

 without further dissection, he then proceeded to extract the 

 viscera in a very cautious and leisurely manner, with other 

 instruments of great fineness; first taking care to wash 

 away and separate, with very fine pencils, the fat with 

 which insects are very plentifully supplied, and which 

 always prejudices the internal parts before it can be 

 extracted. This operation is best performed while the 

 insect is in the pupa or chrys.alis state. 



Sometimes he put into the water the delicate viscera 

 of the insects he had suffocated ; and then shaking 

 them gently, he procured himself an opportunity of 

 examining them, especially the air-vessels or trachaea, 

 which by this means he could separate, from all the 

 other parts, whole and entire, to the great admiration of 

 all those who beheld them : as these vessels are not to be 

 distinctly seen in any other manner, or, indeed, seen at 

 all without damaging them, he often made use of water, 

 injected by a syringe, to cleanse thoroughly the internal 

 parts of his insects 5 then blew them up with air, and 

 dried them, by which means he rendered them durable, 

 and fit for examination at a proper opportunity. Some- 

 times he has examined with the greatest success, and 

 made the most important discoveries in insects that he 

 had preserved in balsam*, and kept for years in that 



* It is probable that the beautiful plan now adopted of mounting and 

 preserving insects in Canada balsam is the same as that here alluded to ; 

 notwithstanding it may be considered as a new discovery, because the 



