[37] 



COLLECTING AND PRESERVING INSECTS RILEY. 



lector will gather by hand the most delicate specimens without injuring 

 them. Yet this labor will be greatly facilitated by the use of the 



Fig. 56. — Pinning forceps. 



tweezers or the brush. The former is a small, light pair of forceps, made 

 of steel or brass. It should be as pliable as possible, and the tip should 

 be narrow and rounded oif and not pointed. It may be either straight 

 or curved at tip, according to individual preference. 



Suitable tweezers may be obtained at the larger hardware stores or 

 of watchmakers. Excellent tweezers made of steel (see Fig. 55) are 



Fig. 57.— Pinning forceps. 



sold for about 40 cents a X)air by Codman, Shurtleff & Co., Tremont 

 street, Boston, Mass. Aside from their utility in picking up speci- 

 mens from the collect- 

 ing cloth or the um- 

 brella, the tweezers 

 are indispensable for 

 extracting insects 

 from cracks, or holes 

 in timber, or from 

 their burrows in 

 branches and stems 

 of plants, or from 

 places whence it is 

 impossible to dislodge 

 them by hand. The 

 larger " collecting forceps," sold by various dealers, do good service in 

 certain emergencies, as when large scorpions or other very large and 

 ferocious insects are to be secured. 



For the handling of mounted insects various special forceps are em- 

 ployed, a number of styles of which are shown at Figs. 56-8. 



TJie Brush. — A common camel's hair brush, of smaller or larger size 

 according to individual preference, is useful for picking up very small 

 or soft-bodied insects. For this purpose the brush is slightly moistened 

 with saliva, and the tip brought in contact with the specimen, which 



Fig. 58. — Pinning forceps for Lepidoptera. 



