BUTTERFLIES,, SPHINGES,, AND MOTHS. 199 



tiey have excavated a groove for the reception of 

 he body, as deep as the insertion of the wings, 

 "hey are otherwise preserved as above directed. 



In the larger butterflies, moths, and sphinges, 

 he abdomen should be perforated, its contents ex- 

 racted, and then stuffed with fine cotton, after 

 laving been washed internally with the solution 

 of corrosive sublimate. Indeed, the cotton should 

 also be rubbed with the arsenical soap before <being 

 introduced, as these insects are particularly liable 

 to the attack of smaller insects, such as the mite. 



Several of the moth tribe are extremely liable to 

 change their colour some time after they have been 

 placed in a cabinet. This change is frequently oc- 

 casioned by an oily matter which is common to 

 many of them. This first makes its appearance in 

 small spots on the body, but soon spreads itself 

 over the abdomen, thorax, and wings ; and ends in 

 a total obliteration of all the beautiful markings. 

 A method which has been sometimes successfully 

 adopted, is to sprinkle all the wings with powdered 

 chalk, and holding a heated iron over it ; the chalk 

 absorbs the grease, and may then be blown off by 

 means of a pair of small bellows. Another way of 

 applying the chalk, and perhaps the better of the 

 two, is to throw some powdered chalk on the face 

 of a heated iron, and then put it into a piece of 

 linen cloth, and apply it to the body of the insect ; 



