62 INSECTA 



3. Evening Trip. 



(1) Make a trip to the electric lights in the evening and 



you will find many beetles, moths, and bugs; or 

 watch for the ^'hawk-moths" about the phlox and 

 nasturtium beds. 



(2) Spread for bait a thick syrup of brown sugar upon the 



bark of tree trunks, at night. Carry a lantern and 

 go from one tree to another, looking carefully for 

 the moths. Quickly put the mouth of the cyanid 

 jar over the moth while it is feeding. 

 Care of the Specimens. — 1. Spreading Board. The wings 

 of the larger specimens will need to be spread before they dry 

 out. For this purpose, take a soft pine board, cover it with 

 a coarse blotting-paper or a sheet of cork. In each side of the 

 center of the board tack four or five thicknesses of blotting- 

 paper, leaving a space of about one-half inch in the center of 

 the board as a groove for the body of the insect. 



Thrust an insect pin through the thorax and pin the body in 

 this groove. By pushing against a strong vein with a pin 

 (not with the fingers or you will spoil the beauty of the speci- 

 men) arrange the wings so that the posterior margins are at 

 right angles to the body, and the anterior margins of the poste- 

 rior wings barely touching them. Fasten them down by pin- 

 ning narrow strips of paper over them near the body and allow 

 them to remain so for a few days. 



2. Moistening Jar. If the specimens get dry before you have 

 mounted them, do not attempt to mount them until they have 

 been relaxed by placing them for a clay or two in a closed glass 

 jar with a layer of wet sand covered with a dry paper in the 

 bottom. 



3. The Permanent Insect Case must be very tight fitting 

 and covered with glass. A sheet of cork should line the bottom, 

 and the appearance is greatly improved by covering this cork 

 with w^hite paper. 



LIFE-HISTORY 



Suggestion. — To make sure of an entire life-history of an 

 insect, if the time is short, place a "blue-bottle" or "blow-fly" 

 in a breeding jar with a piece of meat on which to lay its eggs. 

 Watch closely as soon as the eggs are laid. The complete 



