V^ol. XXX] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 225 



any concern for the neatness of his cabinet. How many 

 tedious hours must be spent in relaxing and remounting ex- 

 amples which by reason of extreme rarity or some special 

 scientific interest are withheld from the waste-basket — a fate 

 otherwise well deserved ! It requires but little additional ef- 

 fort to prepare specimens properly in the first place, and it is 

 hoped that the suggestions ofifered below may be of some ser- 

 vice in the matter. 



In mounting Hemiptera, only the black steel pins of Ameri- 

 can manufacture should be used. They are of course far su- 

 perior in every way to the bright brass pins, so liable to cor- 

 rosion and so prone to bend, and yet some collectors still use 

 the latter. It is true that the steel pins will rust in the 

 presence of moisture, as at the sea-shore or when the collec- 

 tion is stored in a basement, but under the same conditions 

 mould will grow on the specimens and hence undue humidity 

 must always be avoided, aside from the question of pins. It 

 is often recommended that Hemiptera be pinned through the 

 scutellum, but with certain families this is not advisable. In 

 the Reduviidae, for instance, the scutellum is proportionately 

 so small as to be entirely destroyed by a pin otherwise of suit- 

 able size for the insect, and in such cases it is usually best to 

 pin through the posterior lobe of the pronotum. The Corixi- 

 dae, where the scutellum is usually concealed, may be pinned 

 through the right hemielytron, like beetles. For convenience 

 in comparing specimens under the binocular, as well as for 

 aesthetic reasons, the insects should all be set at a uniform 

 distance from the head of pin, with about 14 ^^^ length of the 

 pin projecting above the insect — an oft-repeated injunction 

 but one little heeded. This is to be accomplished with the aid 

 of the pinning block described below. As it is often necessary 

 to examine the hind wings and dorsal surface of the abdomen, 

 a specimen or two of each sex in every species should be pin- 

 ned with the wings unfolded, but not spread on a setting 

 board, an artificiality not needed in mounting Hemiptera. 

 Specimens so small as to be injured in the least by a No. 2 pin 

 should be mounted on points, e. g., almost all Miridae, Antho- 



