have been preserved in papers or envelopes these should be opened a little and laid 

 upon damp, carbolized sand under a bell glass or in a closed receptacle of some kind. 

 Papered specimens may also be placed in their envelopes between clean towels, 

 which have been moistened in water to which a little carbolic acid has been added. 

 The towels should be wrung out quite dry before using them. Pieces of dampened 

 blotting paper are even better than towels. The method of placing between towels 

 should never be used in the case of very small and delicate species and those which 

 are blue or green in color. Great care must be exercised not to allow the insects to 

 become soaked or unduly wet. This ruins them. They should, however, be damp 

 enough to allow the wings and other organs to be freely moved. When the insects 

 have been relaxed they may be pinned and expanded on setting boards like freshly 

 caught specimens. It is well in setting the wings of relaxed specimens, after having 

 thrust the pin through the body, to take a small forceps and seizing the wings just 

 where they join the body gently move them so as to open them and make their 

 movement easy before pinning them upon the setting board. The skilful manipu- 

 lator in this way quickly ascertains whether they have been sufficiently relaxed to 

 admit of their being readily set. If discovered to be too stiff and liable to break 

 they must be still further relaxed. Dried specimens which have been relaxed and 

 then mounted generally require only a short time to dry again, and need rarely be 

 kept more than twenty-four hours upon the setting boards. 



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