COLLECTING BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS. 3i 



top, which can be sewn on the ring, for this will make the net last much longer. The ring should be 

 about a foot in diameter, and it is usual to employ a jointed iron ring, which can be folded up when 

 not in use and put in the pocket. It may be made to screw on the end of a common walking-stick, 

 for which a cap must be provided, to screw on when the net is not wanted, to keep out the dirt. If a 

 net is required in a hurry, it may simply be sewn on a ring of willow-twigs, and fixed at the end of a 

 forked stick, and such an arrangement will answer very well on an emergency. A very portable but 

 more expensive net is the umbrella-net. This is formed of a large ring of whalebone, with a stick 

 through the middle. It is made to open and shut like an umbrella, and goes into a similar case when 

 not in use ; but it is too short for many purposes, and the stick in the middle is another objection. 



Having caught your Butterfly or Moth, you next proceed to secure it. The pins used by 

 entomologists are long and slender, and are sold by dealers in objects of natural history under the 

 name of " Entomological pins," for those used for common purposes are generally too short and thick. 

 The pins are made of different sizes ; choosing one proportioned to the size of the insect, it must 

 be pinned exactly in the middle of the thorax. You then pin it into a small box, lined with cork, 

 which you carry in your pocket. But if you like to bring your specimens home alive, as can be done 

 in the case of most of the smaller Moths, you must be provided with a supply of strong chip-boxes, 

 into which to put your captures. You must take care only to put one insect into each box, and to 

 keep the full and empty boxes in separate pockets, to avoid mixing them. But Butterflies, Sphinges, 

 Bombyces, and, generally speaking, all large and active insects, must be pinned on the spot ; for if you 

 put them into a box they will knock themselves about in it, and when you open it you will find only 

 a mass of fluff, and your specimen spoiled. 



In putting these insects to death, of course the speediest means will be adopted. Small 

 or slender-bodied insects, including most Butterflies, may be killed by a sharp nip under the 

 wings, but this method will not answer for thick-bodied insects. These may be killed by being 

 pierced with a pin dipped in a strong solution of oxalic acid, or may be stupefied with chloroform, 

 and afterwards killed by being placed in a jar half filled with bruised laurel leaves, and tightly 

 stoppered. Ammonia, sulphur, and cyanide of potassium, which some collectors use, are liable to 

 discolour many insects. If you are on a journey, and short of boxes, you may keep your insects in 

 " papers." These are constructed of square pieces of paper folded diagonally, and doubled over at the 

 side, so as to form a triangular envelope open at one end. In this case the insect is simply killed and 

 dropped into the envelope, which is then folded over and put away loosely in a box with cotton wool 

 and a little camphor. But this method is not to be recommended when you are able to pin and set 

 your insects at once. 



In order to set your captures you will require setting-boards. These are proportioned in width 

 to the size of the insects to be set, and may be of any convenient length ; those most commonly used 

 are about ten inches long. There is a corked groove in the middle to receive the body of the insect, 

 and the sides are also formed of cork. The boards may be flat if you prefer it, as used on the 

 Continent, but they are generally bevelled off on each side in England, which gives the wings of 

 the insect a sloping appearance in the cabinet. 



Having chosen a board proportioned to the size of the specimen you wish to set, you pin the 

 Butterfly as nearly as possible in the middle of the groove. The body lies in the groove, and you 

 then spread out the wings on each side in as natural a position as possible, and keep them in their 

 places by pressing them down with strips of cardboard, secured by a pin at one or both ends. Only 

 practice will enable you to do this neatly, and you will soon find that some insects are much easier to 

 set than others. 



It will sometimes happen that your specimens pinned in the field become too stiff to set properly 

 when you get home. These, as well as any specimens which have been pinned or papered and left 

 unset, will require to be relaxed. This is effected by putting them into any covered vessel partly 

 filled with damp sand or sawdust, and placing them in a warm place. In a day or two they will 

 become sufficiently limp to set, and must then be attended to at once, for if left too long they may 

 become mouldy or rotten. In all cases insects must be left on the setting-boards till their wings have 

 completely stiffened in the position which you have given them. 



When the specimens are thus prepared they must be placed in store-boxes, or in cabinets made 



