PINNING INSECTS. 23 
contained in them reared, and the same course may be pur- 
sued with all the larvee and pupz found while collecting. 
PINNING INSECTS. 
Insects are usually mounted for the cabinet on pins made 
especially for the purpose, which can be procured of any 
dealer in naturalists’ supplies. Those most generally em- 
ployed are brass, silver plated. A good quality should be 
used, as with poor pins the specimen is apt to be covered 
with verdigris while the pin itself is soon destroyed. To 
avoid this, varnished pins, and silver and platinum wire 
have been employed. A gold plated pin has been recently 
introduced with very satisfactory results while the increase 
in price is slight. The best silvered pins are those made 
in Berlin by Klager. There are five sizes, of which num- 
bers one, three, and five are the most convenient, number 
one being the finest. Still smaller pins are made for minute 
insects. ‘The insect is impaled with one of these smallest pins 
and fastened to a bit of cork which in turn is mounted on 
a larger pin and the whole placed in the collection. Most 
insects are pinned through the thorax, but beetles should 
have the pin inserted through the right wing cover. The 
specimens should all be pinned at an equal height, so that 
about one-fourth of the pin extends above the insect. On 
the pin below the insect should be kept labels, dates and 
localities of capture, and all information of value. Very 
minute insects are frequently glued to bits of card and 
these are in turn pinned. It is most convenient to cover a 
