[123] COLLECTING AND PRESEEVING INSECTS RILEY. 



tie is absolutely filled, or, what is better, in sawdust moistened with 

 alcohol, or between layers of cotton saturated with alcohol. 



The postal regulations periait the sending by mail of " dried insects 

 * * * when properly put up, so as not to injure the persons of 

 those handling the mails, nor soil the mail bags or their contents." 

 Specimens in alcohol may also be sent by mail, provided that the con- 

 taining vial be strong enough to resist the shock of handling in the 

 mail, and that it be inclosed in a wooden or papier-mache tube not less 

 than three-sixteenths of an inch thick in the thinnest part, lined with 

 cork or other soft material, and with a screw top so adjusted as to pre- 

 vent the leakage of the contents in case of breakage. Entomological 

 specimens are of the fourth class of mail matter, the postage on which 

 is 1 cent an ounce or fraction thereof, the limit of weight for a single 

 package being 4 pounds, and the limit as to bulk 18 inches in any 

 direction. Saleable matter is also non-mailable at fourth-class rates ; 

 so that the safer method, with small packages, is to send under letter 

 postage. It is far better, however, for long journeys, and especially 

 for transatlantic shipment, to send by express. 



NOTES AI!^D MEMORANDA. 



In the foregoing pages are given some of the more useful directions 

 for those wishing to commence to collect and study insects. Experience 

 will soon teach many other important facts not mentioned here, and the 

 best closing advice I can give the novice is, to get acquainted, if possi- 

 ble, with some one who has already had large exx)erience. He will be 

 very apt to find such a person pleasant and instructive com^Dany 

 whether in the field or in the closet. One important habit, however, I 

 wish to strongly inculcate and emphasize : The collector should never 

 be without his memorandum or note book. More profitless work can 

 scarcely be imagined than collecting natural-history specimens without 

 some specific aim or object. Every observation made should be care- 

 fully recorded, and the date of capture, locality, and food-plant should 

 always be attached to the specimens when these are mounted. More 

 extended notes may be made in a field memorandum book carried in 

 the pocket or in larger record books at home. For field memoranda 

 I advise the use of a stylographic pen, as pencil is apt to rub and efface 

 in time by the motions of the body. The larger record book is especially 

 necessary for biologic notes. Notes on adolescent states which it is 

 Intended to rear to the imago can not be too carefully made or in too 

 much detail. The relative size, details of ornamentation and structure, 

 dates of moulting or transformation from one state to another — indeed, 

 everything that pertains to the biography of the species — should be 

 noted down, and little or nothing trusted to mere memory where exact 

 data are so essential. Many insects, particularly dragon-flies, have 

 brilliant coloring when fresh from the pupa, which is largely lost after- 



