966 PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 



Light is injurious to the colours of most insect specimens, especially 

 in the case of moths and green-coloured insects, which rapidly fade 

 when exposed to Hght. Glass-topped cases are therefore very unsuit- 

 able receptacles for the permanent storage of a collection of any value 

 and are usually only seen in public museums, where it is necessary to 

 exhibit specimens ; and in such cases they should be so placed as not 

 to receive direct simUght at any time and should be kept efficiently 

 screened when not actually in use. The dire combined effects of light, 

 mould, insect pests and neglect generally are perhaps nowhere more 

 evident than in the case of the insect-cases displayed to the public view 

 in many museums throughout India. 



Store-boxes are necessary for the collection of- specimens and are 

 convenient for their preservation, at least temporarily, especially in 

 the case of small collections, as it is always easy to interpolate boxef! 

 when expansion is necessary. 



Various patterns have been tried at Pusa during the last fourteen 

 years, all teak- wood boxes 17ixl2x3 inches. The first pattern was 

 Uned with pith and provided at one end with a partitioned compart- 

 ment to hold naphthaline balls. A second pattern was lined, top and 

 bottom, with cork sheets covered with white paper. A third pattern 

 had no cork at all but was lined with two sheets of paper stretcTied 

 over thin slips of wood screwed to the inner sides of the boxes, these 

 screws being adjustable to secure proper tension of the paper. A fourth 

 pattern was Uned on the bottom with cork linoleum painted white and 

 fixed in with a mixture of paraffin wax and naphthaline, a further supply 

 of this mixture being also placed in the lid of the box. A modification 

 of this last pattern had a white-painted sheet of cork linoleum embedded 

 in a thick layer of paraflan wax and naphthaline poured into the bottom 

 of the box and allowed to set, the Hd of the box being simply varnished. 



The last pattern was in use for a long time and the majority of the 

 collections at Pusa are still kept in such boxes, but they are not satis- 

 factory in use, as the wax makes them very heavy to handle and is 

 liable to melt in really hot weather whilst the naphthaline soon evapo- 

 rates and exercises no preventive action on insect pests or mould after 

 a year or so. The linoleum sheet also is liable to buckle upwards at 

 times, the specimens being pressed agamst the hd of the box and often 

 ruined in this way. We are therefore no longer recommending this 

 paraffin-lined box for general use. 



Stoieboxes are usually made in standard sizes (8x6, 10x8, 13x9, 

 14x10, 16x11, and 17|xl2 inches) and 3 inches deep, these measure- 

 ments being external dimensions. Small boxes are useful^ to trans- 

 mission of specimens but for a collection the largest size (17ixl2) is 



