232 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



for the same insects. The advice, too, to pin them so that when 

 set and pinned in the drawer the wings should just clear the 

 bottom, leaves too much to guess-work, and often results in 

 leaving too much or too little pin underneath. 



To procure absolute evenness in pinning, I have made a 

 " contrivance," which I hope will be found of use. At any rate, 

 it has the merit of being simple, and easily made by any collector 

 in about an hour, as it only requires the simplest mechanical 

 skill for its construction. It consists of a series of six little 

 "rests" (for want of a better term) of six different heights. 

 These are made from strips of tin varying in width from J inch 

 for the highest '' rest " to i inch for the lowest. These strips 

 are bent into the shape something like the letter M. With a fine 

 taper-point punch, a hole is punched through the middle of the 

 central part, and two more through each of the flanges, the 

 latter being to tack the "rest" on to a wooden stand; the 

 central hole is easiest made before bending the strip into the 

 desired shape. The heights of the "rests" (which correspond 

 to the length of pin which will be underneath the moth when 

 pinned) I have made as follows : — J, f , j^q, i, j\, and ^ of an 

 inch. This gives a good range of height, J inch being for the 

 largest moths— «irojjos, &c. ; i inch for the smallest Geometers 

 — pugs, &c. The six "rests" are tacked side by side on a 



wooden stand, 6 inches long by Ij half inch wide, and ^ an inch 

 thick. The modus operandi is as follows : — Start to pin the moth 

 in the usual way (how I wish a " contrivance " could be made to 

 get the pin in straight). When the pin appears underneath the 

 body of the moth, place the latter on the "rest " appropriate to 

 its size, and push the pin through the hole in the centre of the 

 "rest," till it is stopped by the stand underneath. In this way, 

 no matter what sized pin is used, every moth of the same size 

 must have, to a hair's-breadth, the same length of pin under- 

 neath. The difference in a drawerful of moths set in this 

 manner and a drawerful made up with various settings from 

 various sources, is very great ; the perfect evenness and regu- 

 larity of the former contrasting favourably with the " scratch- 

 lot " ai^pearance of the latter. 



If anyone who reads this, and wishing to make a "pinner" 

 for himself, cannot make out how the thing is made from the illus- 



