54 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 



Take two rectangular plates of glass of the same size, 

 large enough for your specimen, or specimens, for this 

 method is admirably adapted for life-story collections. 

 Cut a strip of thin wood as wide as the thickness of your 

 largest specimen, — berry-box or cigar-box wood is good, 

 — brush over one side with ink to blacken it, and, with 

 glue or shellac, stick the wood around the edges of one of 

 the glass plates. You now have a box with glass bottom 

 and wooden sides as deep as your thickest specimen. ^ 

 Arrange your specimens in order : egg cluster ; single 

 egg ; larvae of increasing sizes ; moulted skins, if you have 

 themi ; pupae, male and female ; cocoons ; pupae cases, from 

 which the insects have emerged; leaves eaten by the 

 larvae ; male and female adult insect. Fasten in place 

 with minute drops of glue where the specimen touches 

 the glass,^ and, if desired, glue a neat label under each 

 specimen, giving perhaps the date of the different proc- 

 esses represented. Put the other glass on for a cover and 

 glue a strip of black paper or passe-partout around the edge 

 of the whole just wide enough to hide the wooden frame. 

 You now have a series of specimens that tell the story of 

 an insect's life from beginning to end in its reality. 

 You can see both sides of your insects, — head, mouth 

 parts, legs, feet, wings, — all equally well.^ 



1 " Insect mounting strips," made in one piece, to fold together, like a 

 lioney section, for cases 2 x 5, 4 x 5, and 5x7 inches, and of different widths, 

 are now obtainable from the A. I. Root Co., Medina, Ohio, at about ^1.25 

 per thousand. 



^ Glue sometimes dries so hard that it scales off the glass. To prevent 

 this I add to an ounce bottle about twenty drops of glycerine. 



' Insects are often marked and colored differently above and below, 

 so that this is no small matter in deciding on a method of preparation for 

 imparting clear and complete conceptions to children. 



