94 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Mar., '04 



any system will insure good results. The advantage I find in 

 the following is simplicity and rapidity ; I can usually average 

 from forty to fifty specimens per hour. 



Have a goodly number of strips of paper ready ; these should 

 vary in width from one-sixteenth to three-eighths or half an 

 inch, and an inch longer than the boards. The best paper is 

 heavy book linen ; a visit to any bookbinder or printer will 

 find a mine of suitable strips around his trimming machine, 

 and if he is not too busy he will put a thick layer of these 

 scraps in the machine and shear them off in different widths. 

 All of which will save the trouble of cutting them out with 

 scissors and insure their edges being parallel to each other. A 

 supply of setting pins is also required, and the best I know of 

 are the cheap black glass-headed steel mourning pins, " Made 

 in Germany." Thirty or thirty-five cents will buy a dozen 

 small boxes or about five hundred. 



Setting. — With setting board in front, several setting 

 needles handy, setting pins alongside, relaxing box on left 

 side, and fine-pointed forceps within reach, we are ready to 

 begin. 



First select two of the narrowest strips of paper, pinning 

 one end of each firmly into upper end of board, close to but 

 not overlapping the slot ; then with forceps take a specimen 

 from box, quickly pin it in the slot at the top of board, with 

 pin nearly vertical, just a little inclined forward ; with needle 

 raise the wings until they rest flat on each side, then bring the 

 two paper strips down over the wings ; in this position hold 

 left thumb or forefinger on the strips, an inch or two below 

 the moth, and with the setting needle in right hand, first draw 

 one pair and then the other pair of wings into a position so 

 that the hind margin of forewings makes a straight line ; after 

 getting each pair of wings in position, stick a pin through the 

 strip just below and close to the moth. Continue repeating 

 this until your board is full, and then pin on each side a wider 

 strip of paper, to cover entirely the projecting ends of the 

 wings. Sometimes this last process cannot wait until entire 

 board is finished, as some specimens are more inclined to curl 

 than others, and if the wings show the slightest tendency to 



