The Capture, Preparation, and Preservation of Specimens 



differently from setting boards commonly used for butterflies and 

 larger moths. The best form known to the writer is one, which has 

 for many years been employed by Mr. Herbert H. Smith, the vet- 

 eran collector. Small pieces of glass about one inch square, with 

 their edges very lightly beveled, so as to remove all sharpness, 

 are spaced upon a strip of cork fastened to a wide piece of soft 

 pine in such a way that an interval of from one-sixteenth to one- 

 eighth of an inch occurs between them. This serves as the 

 groove to receive the body of the specimen. Having been fixed 

 upon the pin the insect is placed in one of these grooves. The 

 wings are then carefully expanded with a crooked needle 

 fastened in a handle, as illustrated in Figure 16, and are then bound 



FIG. 17. Setting board for mounting micro-lepidoptera ; a, 

 pieces of glass attached to papered cork with shellac ; b, base 

 of soft pine ; co., cork ; d, white paper covering cork ; ee, brads, 

 to which setting threads are tied ; ff, pins set firmly beyond 

 groove to secure alignment of setting threads ; it, setting 

 threads ; pp, pins to which setting threads are fastened, and 

 which are stuck into the pine base to hold down the wings in 

 position ; h, small silver pin transfixing thorax of specimen. 



in place by a thread which is held in place by a pin, as shown in 

 Figure 17. Though the wings of these small insects may, when 

 mounted, at first curl up a little under the pressure of the thread 

 drawn across them, they generally recover their -position after 

 removal from the setting board. The advantage of mounting 

 these insects upon glass arises from the fact that the sharp point 

 of the needle will glide over the glass and the surface is smooth, 



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