TAXIDERMY. 95 



We construct twenty-four thin wooden boxes 

 18 inches long, 15 wide, and 2 deep; the lid 

 should be fastened to the box with hinges. We 

 line the bottom of the inside with layers of cork, 

 about the sixth of an inch thick. This cork 

 should be fixed with very strong paste, and some 

 wire nails, and we deposit the insects in these boxes, 

 as we catch them. 



Before we place the insects, we anoint these 

 boxes within and without with oil of petroleum, 

 or, for want of that, an infusion of aromatic plants, 

 as laurel, thyme, sage, aloes, rosemary, cinnamon, 

 cloves ; and, with strong pins we fasten a small 

 packet of camphire wrapped in linen. When a 

 box is full, we pitch over the whole outside to 

 keep away living insects, and to preserve those 

 within from sea-damp. We must be careful not 

 to place large insects, such as we find in the 

 genera prionus, scarabeus, &c., because their 

 weight would necessarily separate them during 

 their conveyance, and they would not fail to break 

 the smaller ones, which are in the same box. We 

 therefore place these large ones in bottles, the 

 mouths of which have nearly an inch and a quarter 

 in diameter. This vessel must be three quarters 

 full of a spirituous liquor ; rum or brandy : it 

 should be closed with a good cork, and the tra- 

 veller should take one of these bottles with him 

 to receive all the large coleopterae he meets with. 



