I 

 BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS 221 



Chloroform itself may be used, a few drops on a tuft of cotton wool being 

 placed in the bottle in which the insect is confined. 



I need hardly add that in all cases the bottle must be tightly closed, and 

 the insect left long enough within to be actually killed, and not merely rendered 

 " unconscious." When dead, it should be taken out and pinned into the col- 

 lecting box. 



A very useful " killing box " can be made out of an empty carbide tin 

 one of those long tube-like tins obtainable at any bicycle shop. A third of 

 it may be filled with crushed laurel leaves, and a piece of perforated zinc 

 placed above them ; or, simpler still, the laurel leaves may be put in a small 

 muslin bag, which is kept inside the tin. 



As for the collecting box, it should be of a size convenient for the pocket. 

 A cigar box, with a piece of sheet cork (or sections of ordinary bottle cork, 

 about | of an inch thick) glued to the inside of the lid and the bottom of the 

 box, serves very well. To this the insects may be pinned. Keep a small 

 piece of sponge, damped with water, in a corner of the box, to prevent the 

 insects from getting too dry. 



To " set " a butterfly for its place in the collection, care must be taken 

 that it is not too dry, or its legs and antennae will snap off when touched. 

 If it has been kept unset for some time it must be relaxed. Place it on a 

 piece of blotting-paper, resting on a layer of damp sand in an air-tight 

 tin box, for a day or two, and it will then be softened and easily handled. 



A setting board, of which a sectional sketch is given, 



must be used. This is made of cork, and has a groove \ , j f , ,, , f , f / / / \ 

 in which the body of the insect lies. The wings are A setting board 

 moved into position (not with the fingers, but with 

 a blunt needle fixed in a handle), and fastened there by strips of thin paper, 

 with pins at each end. The antennae must be straightened out, and the 

 easiest way of manipulating them is to use a small painting brush, moistening 

 it with the lips, and, as it were, painting the antennae forward into their proper 

 position. The moisture thus used is sufficiently " sticky " to fasten the 

 antennae in place on the board till dry. This is a valuable hint which I do 

 not remember to have seen given in print before. 



I am not in favour of making large collections of butterflies or moths, 

 unless it is purely for the sake of scientific work. At the most, the amateur 

 will require only four of each species, male and female, showing upper and 

 lower surfaces. 



The specimens should be kept in air-tight drawers or boxes, preferably 

 glass-covered, and a little lump of camphor naphthalene, or, cheapest of all, 

 " carbon," should be pinned in a bit of muslin in one corner, to keep away 

 mites or other destructive insects. ' 



Nothing is more interesting than to rear butterflies, and this is a hobby 

 which can be easily and successfully undertaken by anybody. Breeding 

 cages can be bought at any naturalist's shop, but they can be made in very 



