202 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS [May, ’14 
An Improved Method of Caring for Specimens of 
Butterflies on Extended Collecting Trips. 
By R. A. Leusster, Omaha, Nebraska. 
No doubt every butterfly collector who ever “papered” 4 
lot of desirable material on some extended collecting trip, has 
experienced more or less disappointment when, on spreading 
the specimens, those the condition of which, when taken, left 
nothing to be desired, have been found minus antennae, or 
legs, the wings rubbed, or the thorax and abdomen flattened 
and distorted. The spreading of any papered specimens, too, 
is apt to prove more or less unsatisfactory, especially in those 
families having strong thoracic muscles, as the Hesperiidae, 
since when specimens have lain in papers though for a short 
time, the wings often show a tendency to revert to the posi- 
tion held while in the papers, which cannot be entirely over- 
come even though the insects are kept on the spreading boards 
for a considerable length of time. Also insects that have been 
once dried and then pinned do not become as firmly fixed on 
the pin as if pinned when fresh. 
During the past two summers I have employed a method 
of caring for my specimens, when on trips varying in length 
from a few days to two weeks, which proved so very satis- 
factory that I feel it deserves description for the benefit of 
other collectors. In general terms it consists in pinning the 
specimens while still pliable, reducing the wings to a horizon- 
tal position (in other words giving the insect a tentative 
spreading), and then partially relaxing them when they are 
to be transported homeward or from one place to another on 
the trip. Simple as the method is, its most effective applica- 
tion requires that it be described in detail. 
The first step is to put the specimens from the killing bottle 
into tight tin boxes for about 24 hours, when all rigor mortis 
will have disappeared. For this purpose I use tin shoe,polish 
‘boxes, and five or six of these boxes will hold 60 to 100 small 
and medium-sized butterflies. To keep the specimens from 
damaging each other by contact, I place Japanese crepe paper, 
