[75] 



COLLECTING AND PRESERVING INSECTS RILEY. 



105. Spreading board for Lepidoptera. 



Tliis is also an excellent metkod of sending diurnal Lepidoptera and 

 Dragon-flies tlirough, tlie mails and is preferable in some respects to 

 mailing spread specimens. 



Directions for Spreading Insects. — "For the proper spreading of insects 

 with broad and flattened wings, such as butterflies and moths, a spread- 

 ing board or stretcher is necessary. One that is simple and answers 

 every purpose is shown at Fig. 105, It may be made of two pieces 

 of thin whitewood or pine board, fastened together by braces at the 

 ends, but left wide enough apart to admit 

 the bodies of the insects to be spread ; 

 strips of cork or pith, in which to fasten 

 the pins, may then be tacked or glued 

 below so as to cover the intervening 

 space. The braces must be deep enough 

 to prevent the pins from touching any- 

 thing the stretcher may be laid on, and 

 by attaching a ring or loop to one of them 

 the stretcher may be hung against a wall, 

 out of the way. For ordinary-sized specimens I use boards 2 feet long, 3 

 inches wide, and ^ inch thick, with three braces (one in the middle and 

 one at each end) 1^ inches deep at tlie ends, but narrowing from each 

 €nd to 1| inches at the middle. This slight rising from the middle is to 

 counteract the tendency of the wings, however well dried, to 

 drop a little after the insect is placed in the cabinet. The wings 

 are held in position by means of strips of paper (Fig. 105) until 

 dry. For stretching the wings and for many other purposes, a 

 handled needle will be found useful. Split off, with the grain, 

 a i^iece of pine wood 3 or 4 inches long ; hold it in the right 

 hand; take a medium-sized needle in the left hand; hold it 

 upright with the point touching a walnut table, or other hard- 

 grained wood, and bring a steady pressure to bear on the pine. 

 The head of the needle will sink to any required distance into 

 the pine, which may then be whittled off, and you have just the 

 thing you want (Fig. 106). To obtain uniformity in the position 

 of the wings, a good rule is to have the inner margins of the 

 front wings as nearly as possible on a straight line. When the 

 specimens are thoroughly stiff and dry, they should be taken 

 from the stretcher and kept for several weeks in the drying box 

 before being i^ermanently placed in the cabinet. The drying- 

 box is simply a box of any required dimensions, containing a 

 series of shelves on which to pin the specimens, and without a 

 solid back or front. The back is covered on the inside with fine 

 gauze and on the outside with coarser wire, and the door in front con- 

 sists of a close-fitting frame of the same material, the object being to 

 allow free passage of air, but at the same time to keep out dust and 

 prevent the gnawings of mice and other animals. The shelves should 



Fig. 106. 

 Needle 



for 

 spread- 

 ing in- 

 sects. 



