THE PRESERVATION OF SPECIMENS. 



295 



hard-bodied insects, as beetles, are often stored in 

 alcohol and pinned later. But many insects, as flies 

 and other hairy forms, are greatly injured by being 

 placed in a fluid, the hairs being matted so that when 

 the insect is pinned it presents an unnatural appear- 

 ance. 



Insect Pins. — For pinning insects a special kind 

 of pin is ordinarily used — one made of slender wire^ — 

 so that the specimens are mutilated as little as possi- 

 ble. These can be procured of any dealer in ento- 

 mological supplies ; a list of such dealers is given on 

 page 340. 



There are several styles of insect pins, but all 

 of those in general use can be classed under two 

 heads — the English and the German. The English 

 pins are short, so that an insect when pinned is close 

 to the bottom of the cabinet, while the German pins 

 are long, so that the pinned insect is held free from 

 the bottom of the cabinet. By the use of the latter 

 the danger of breaking off the legs from specimens, 

 when they are changed from one place in the cabinet 

 to another, is greatly lessened. Without entering 

 into any further discussion as to the relative merits 

 of the two kinds of pins, it can be said that it would 

 be unwise for an American collector to use any but 

 the German pins, for, as nearly all American ento- 

 mologists use this style, it would be difficult for a 

 collector using short pins to make exchanges in this 

 country. 



Insect pins are made of different sizes of wire and 

 numbered accordingly, but the numbers used by the 

 different makers do not correspond with each other. 

 Below is given the names of the three kinds of Ger- 



