PINNING INSECTS. 23 



contained in them reared, and the same course may be pur- 

 sued with all the larvae and pupae found while collecting. 



PINNING INSECTS. 



Insects are usually mounted for the cabinet on pins made 

 especially for the purpose, which can be procured of any 

 dealer in naturalists' supphes. Those most generally em- 

 ployed are brass, silver plated. A good quality should be 

 used, as with poor pins the specimen is apt to be covered 

 with verdigris while the pin itself is soon destroyed. To 

 avoid this, varnished pins, and silver and platinum wire 

 have been employed. A gold plated pin has been recently 

 introduced with very satisfactory results while the increase 

 in price is slight. The best silvered pins are those made 

 in Berlin by Klager. There are five sizes, of which num- 

 bers one, three, and five are the most convenient, number 

 one being the finest. Still smaller pins are made for minute 

 insects. The insect is impaled with one of these smallest pins 

 and fastened to a bit of cork which in turn is mounted on 

 a larger pin and the whole placed in the collection. Most 

 insects are pinned through the thorax, but beetles should 

 have the pin inserted through the right wing cover. The 

 specimens should all be pinned at an equal height, so that 

 about one-fourth of the pin extends above the insect. On 

 the pin below the insect should be kept labels, dates and 

 localities of capture, and all information of value. Very 

 minute insects are frequently glued to bits of card and 

 these are in turn pinned. It is most convenient to cover a 



