[81] 



COLLECTING AND PRESERVING INSECTS RILEY. 



tion of the larva, and tMs may be entirely or partly closed by a sliding 

 door, a. It will be found of advantage to line the bottom of the box 



(inside) with a brass screen of 

 very fine mesh, to distribute 

 and equalize the heat. This 

 apparatus can be very easily 

 made by any tinsmith and will 

 answer every purpose. 



The larvsB of Microlepidop-. 

 tera or young larvae may be 

 dried without expressing the 

 body contents, and will keep, 

 to a great extent, their normal 

 shape and ai^pearance. The 

 method consists in iDlacing 

 them on a sand bath, heated 

 by an alcohol lamp. The va- 

 13or generated by the heat in 

 the larvee inflates them and 

 keeps the skin taut until the 

 juices are entirely evaporated. 

 They may then be glued at 

 once to cardboard and jDinned 

 in the cases. 



In the mounting of large in- 

 flated larvce I have ado^Dted 

 the plan of supiDorting them on covered copper wire of a size varying with 

 the size of the larva. A pin is first thrust through a square bit of cork and 

 the wire brought tightly about it and wrapped once or twice, comiDress- 

 ing the cork and giving a firm attachment to the pin. The wire is then 

 neatly bent to form a diamond- shaped loop about one-sixth of an inch 

 in length and again twisted loosely to the end — the length of the twisted 

 portion about equalling that of the larva to be mounted. This is then 

 either thrust into the blown skin of the larva through the anal oi^ening, 

 the larva being glued to the wire by the posterior extremity, or the 

 larva is glued to the wire by the abdominal legs and venter, thus rest- 

 ing on the wire as on a twig. This style of mounting is illustrated in 

 PI. I. With a Httle experience the operator will soon be able to inflate 

 the most delicate larvse and also the very hairy forms, as for instance 

 Orgyia leucostigma, without the least injury, so that the natural colors 

 and appearance wiU be preserved. 



Another very good method, and still safer, is to blow with straw, cut 

 the straw square off at the anus, and then preserve the thoroughly 

 dried and blown specimen in a glass tube of about the same length and 

 diameter as the larva. This arrangement in conjunction with the tube 

 holder, which will be described further on, is one of the most satisfac- 

 tory for the preservation of inflated larvae. 

 2564 6 



Fig. 109.- 



-Drying oven for the inflation of larv83 

 (original). 



