118 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XVII. 



The first and most important operation of all is the pinning. If the rest of 

 the setting is badly done it can always be relaxed and reset but if the insect is 

 not pinned properly it will in 9 cases out of 10 be spoilt for all time. The pin 

 should be inserted exactly through the middle of the thorax and perpendicular 

 to it and the utmost care must be taken that it comes out exactly in the middle 

 ou ths underside, i.e., exactly between the middle pair of legs. If this is not 

 doue the legs will probably be broken off and the wings are almost certain 

 to be put out of joint in the process of stretching them. It is almost equally 

 important that the insect should be pinned exactly in the middle of the groove 

 of the setting board and that the pin should be put in straight and not leaning 

 forward or back or to one side. Not more than at most a quarter of an inch of 

 piu should show above the thorax, just enough to catch hold of with the 

 forceps. Pins are ugly. Unless these two operations are performed success- 

 fully the rest of the setting is mere waste of time so far as any hope of turning 

 out a decent specimen is concerned. 



The details of the process of stretching the wings on the boards will depend 

 mainly on the attitude in which the insect died and are impossible to describe 

 "thoroughly. But supposing it has died with them closed above the body — the 

 most common attitude for butterflies — take a strip of paper (E E in Fig. 3.), 

 slide it between the wings, then put the forceps between them and press them 

 open until you can get the strip (E F) flat and then pin it to the board at one 

 end (D) (with the ordinary pin of commerce ; entomological pins will generally 

 bend at once if you try to put them into any substance harder than cork). 



Fi a . S 



