BULLETIN 39, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. [68] 



one end, and which is used in connection with a piece of pith or cork. 

 The mode of using this pin is shown in Fig. 101. These 

 fine and elbow pins may be obtained either "white" 

 or japanned. 



" Many English entomologists use short pins, very 

 much like those of ordinary make, and my late friend 

 Walsh never gave up the custom, and most vehemently 

 opposed the use of what he ridiculed as ' long German 

 skewers.' But the only advantage that can possibly be 

 claimed for the short pins is that they are less apt to 

 bend, consequently more easily stuck into the bottoms 

 Fig. 94.-iiisect of boxcs, and require less room; while, compared with 

 mounted on "el- tlic loug pius, they have numerous disadvantages. 

 ^^™" Long pins admit of the very important advantage of 



attaching notes and labels to the specimen ; render it more secure from 

 injury when handled, and from museum pests in the cabinet; and on 

 them several rows of carded duplicates may be fastened, one under the 

 other, so as to economize room." 



I have seen few old collections in better condition than that of the 

 late E. Mulsant, of Lyons, France; and he used iron wire, cut slant- 

 ingly, of the requisite length — a common custom in France. These 

 wires bend so easily and have such dull points that they require much 

 more careful manij)ulation than the pins, and the claim made for them 

 that they do not verdigris would, j)erhaps, be offset by their rusting in 

 moist climates or near the sea. Silver wire or silver-plated wire is also 

 used. 



Preparation of Specimens. — Upon the return from an excursion the 

 specimens should be prepared for the collection as soon as practicable. 

 If they have been collected in the forenoon they should be mounted 

 the same evening, and those collected during an afternoon or evening 

 excursion should be mounted the following morning, or, at any rate, 

 before they get dry and brittle. Even specimens collected in alcohol 

 should be attended to as soon as possible. 



Specimens are taken from the collecting bottle, spread out on a sheet 

 of white blotting paper and cleaned from adhering impurities either 

 with a soft dry brush, or, in the case of species with hard covering, by 

 washing them with chloroform or ether or benzine where necessary. 

 Theoretically the best way of mounting would be to pin all si^ecimens, 

 since the under side with its important characters then remains free 

 for examination. Pins adapted for pinning even the smallest insects 

 have been described above, but this pinning is such a delicate oper- 

 ation and requires so much time that considering the large number 

 of small specimens that may be collected on a single short excursion 

 it is next to impossible to carry out this method, and therefore only the 

 larger specimens need be pinned and the smaller may be glued onto 

 the paper points described later. If the work is done with proper 



