NOTES AND OBSEEVATIONS. 85 



The next point is to hold the wings down, so that they may be 

 drawn into their proper position. A small square piece of cork, a pin, 

 and a bristle from a hair-brush, make a capital contrivance for doing 

 this. The bristle may be easily inserted in the proper position by 

 making a hole in the cork first with a needle. For large, stiff- winged 

 insects a fine needle may well be used instead of a bristle. The bristle 

 is passed down between the upright wings, and the pair pressed down 

 till they lie close to the board, but loosely. In this position they can 

 easily be manipulated into place by a needle pushed under the hind 

 margin of the primary, and the secondary can then generally be easily 

 worked into place. When the wings are in position, the cork is pinned 

 tightly down, and the bristle will then hold the wings in their place, 

 and the needles can be removed. The other pair of wings is then got 

 into position in the same manner. Several points have to be considered 

 with regard to the position of the wings. Some collectors seem to 

 think that the costa should be at right angles to the body ; whilst 

 others, running to the opposite extreme, set the wings so that the two 

 costas shall form a right angle. Here, again, the happy medium is 

 best. In the former case the secondaries are not properly displayed ; 

 in the latter this is done, but their inner margins are drawn too far 

 away from the body. I think a safe rule is to set the primaries at such 

 an angle that while the secondaries are fully displayed, their inner 

 margins shall be parallel with the median line of the body, ichile not 

 allotved to touch it. This precaution is necessary to prevent grease 

 spreading to the wings should the body become greasy some little time 

 before it is noticed. The secondaries should be advanced so far under 

 the primaries as to leave a very small portion of their cilia covered. 

 No young collector can go far astray if he takes as his patterns the 

 figures of the insects as given in Newman's or Barrett's books ; and if 

 every collector used such a model, a great step towards uniformity in 

 this point would be gained. A great advantage in using bristles as 

 above described, is that the insect when thus fixed in position can be 

 viewed as a whole, and both sides set at exactly the same ano;le. When 

 one side is wholly or partially covered by straps, any inequality is much 

 less easily seen. I have found it a great help to getting both sides 

 alike, to have pencil lines ruled across the boards at right angles to 

 their length. It is then very easy to see whether both sides are 

 advanced to exactly the same extent. The next thing is to fasten the 

 wings down so that they shall remain in position till the insect is quite 

 dry. To do this some collectors use narrow bands of card or paper. 

 A broad strip of thin paper large enough to cover the whole of the 

 wings is preferable. It ensures the drying of every part of the wings 

 at the same rate of time; it prevents lines being left on the wings, and 

 it flattens all the cilia and all the scales on the wings. Paper a little 

 thicker than tissue-paper — semi-transparent is good, because it enables 

 one to see if a wing slips at all when the bristle is removed. This 

 paper is easily placed so as to come close to the bristle, and cover 

 nearly the whole of both wings and the antenna. For all insects 

 under the size of T. pronuba, three pins are sufiicient. When the 

 paper is firmly pinned down, the bristles are to be removed. 



The last thing is, if the groove be large and the body drops, to 

 raise it into the proper position by a pin placed under the body on each 



