REARING ANIMALS AND MAKING COLLECTIONS 337 



insect place a small label with date and locality of capture. 

 Insects too small to be pinned may be gummed on to 

 small slips of cardboard, which should be then pinned up. 

 Keep the insects in drawers or boxes lined on the bottom 

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

 pith can be used ; also in the West, the pith of the flower- 

 ing stalk of the century plant.) The cheapest insect- 

 boxes and very good ones, too, are cigar-boxes. But 



Fig. 255. — Insect properly "pinned up." (From Jenkins and Kellogg.j 



unless well looked after they let in tiny live insects which 

 feed on the dead specimens. For a permanent collection, 

 therefore, it will be necessary to have made some tight 

 boxes or drawers. Glass-topped ones are 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 marauding insects. 



Butterflies, dragon-flies, and other larger and beautiful- 

 winged insects should be "spread," that is, should be 

 allowed to dry with wings expanded. To do this spread- 

 ing- or setting-boards (figs. 256 and 257) are necessary. 

 Such a board consists of two strips of wood fastened a short 

 distance 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 



