476 



THE ANIMALS AND MAN 



on to small slips of cardboard, which should be then pinned 

 up. Keep the insects in drawers or boxes lined on the bot- 

 tom with a thin layer of cork, or pith of some kind. (Corn- 

 pith can be used; also in the West, the pith of the flowering 

 stalk of the century plant.) The cheapest insect-boxes and 

 very good ones, too, are cigar-boxes. But unless well looked 

 after they let in tiny live insects which feed on the dead speci- 

 mens. For a permanent collection, therefore, it will be 

 necessary to have made some tight boxes or drawers. Glass- 

 topped ones a:re best, so that the specimens may be examined 

 without opening them. A "moth-ball" (naphthaline) 

 fastened in one corner of the box will help keep out the ma- 

 rauding insects. 



Butterflies, dragon- 

 flies, and other larger 

 and beautiful winged 

 insects should be 

 "spread," that is, 

 should be allowed to 

 dry with wings expand- 

 ed. To do this spread- 

 ing- or setting-boards 

 (figs. 243 and 244) are 

 necessary. Such a 

 board consists of two strips of wood fastened a short dis- 

 tance apart so as to leave between them a groove for the 

 body of the insect, and upon which the wings are held in 

 position until the insect is dry. A narrow strip of pith or 

 cork should be fastened to the lower side of the two strips 

 of wood, closing the groove below. Into this cork is thrust 

 the pin, on which the insect is mounted. Another strip of 

 wood is fastened to the lower sides of the cleats to which 

 the two strips are nailed. This serves as a bottom and 

 protects the points of the pins which project through the 

 piece of cork. The wings are held down, after having been 

 outspread with the hinder margins of the fore wings about 

 at right angles to the body, by strips of paper pinned down 

 over them. 



Fig. 242. Insect properly pinned up. 



