ARACHNIDE3. 73 



and whose colours are rich and likely to be affected by the 

 action of the atmosphere, we must endeavour to arrest its pro- 

 gress by immediately imbuing the animal after it is set up with 

 the solution of corrosive sublimate, and in an hour after with a 

 thin coating of a very weak white-spirit varnish ; for this pur- 

 pose, take a tea-spoonful of the ordinary white-spirit or elastic 

 varnish, and add to it two tea-spoonfuls of spirit of wine, ap- 

 ply this with a fine camel hair brush, which will quickly dry, 

 and have a strong tendency to preserve the colour. The var- 

 nish being thus reduced in strength, will not leave any gloss 

 on the insect, nor will it be at all perceptible. 



Mr Samouelle, author of " The Entomologist's Useful Com- 

 pendium/' in speaking of preserving Spiders, says, " The best 

 preserved specimens that I have seen are those where the con- 

 tents of the abdomen have been taken out and filled with fine 

 sand. I have preserved several in this way, and find it an- 

 swer the purpose." 



Mr Donovan, author of " The History of British Insects," 

 and many other splendid and useful books on insects and na- 

 tural history, makes the following observations on the preser- 

 vation of Spiders : 



" To determine whether some species of Spiders could be 

 preserved with their natural colours, I put several into spirits 

 of wine ; those with gibbous bodies soon after discharged a 

 very considerable quantity of viscid matter, and therewith all 

 their beautiful colours ; the smallest retained their form, and 

 only appeared rather paler in the other colours than when 

 they were living. 



" During the course of last Summer, among other Spiders 

 I met with a rare species, it was of a bright yellow colour, ele* 

 gantly marked with black, red, green, and purple ; by some 

 accident it was unfortunately crushed to pieces in the chip-box 

 wherein it was confined, and was therefore thrown aside as 

 useless ; a month or more after that time I observed that such 

 parts of the skin as had* dried against the inside of the box, 

 retained the original brightness of colour in a considerable de- 

 gree. To further the experiment, I made a similar attempt, 

 with some caution, on the body of another Spider (Aranea 

 Diadema), and though the colours were not perfectly preserv- 

 ed, they appeared distinct. 



