During the collecting season this data may be penciled on the cigar box containing 

 each day's catch, but the labels must be attached to each insect when the speci- 

 mens are removed from the box. Unless a species is exceedingly rare, there is no 

 excuse for retaining a damaged moth or butterfly. If you discover a nick in the 

 wings, the loss of an antenna or leg, or any imperfection whatever, mercilessly dis- 

 card the specimen as worthless. Each specimen should bear the proper sex label. 

 The sign $ (Mars) is used for the male, and $ (Venus) for the female and 

 ? for the workers or neuters. Pin the label through the middle a short distance 

 below the specimen so as not to interfere with the legs. With butterflies and moths 

 the labels should extend with the wings, but the rule with other insects is to have 

 it extend lengthwise with the body. The specimen is far more valuable if it bears 

 a label stating whether it was captured at light, at sugar or on a designated flower. 

 Of course, labels may be written, but it is not expensive and is far more convenient 

 to have them printed. 



INSECT PESTS. 



Insect or museum pests are to be constantly dreaded. Unless you exercise 

 constant vigilance your boxes or cabinet will become infested with small beetles or 

 other insects, which will destroy your specimens. The first hint of their presence 

 is usually a fine dust on the bottom of the box around the pin which contains 

 the infected specimen. Cigar boxes should be kept closed with a little brass clasp. 

 I know of no one who sells them except Herman Goetz, 34 1 Kearny Street, San 

 Francisco, and the cost is $3.00 per 1000. They are fastened to the box by the 

 small wire brad used in making cigar boxes. Keep boxes, drawers and cabinets 

 sprinkled with naphthalene flakes, or, better still, use the naphthalene cones adver- 

 tised by supply houses. Heat the head of a pin in the flame of an alcohol lamp 

 and with a pair of forceps thrust it into a moth ball and it will answer the purpose 

 of the naphthalene cone. If you prefer, wrap the moth ball in mosquito bar, cheese 

 cloth or gauze and pin it in the corner of the box. Creosote, camphor gum, oil of 

 lavender, carbolic acid, or formalin will keep out pests. When you receive a ship- 

 ment of insects, or when you discover dermestidae in your collection it is well to 

 place the insects in a close receptacle containing a little formalin for a few days. A 

 quicker, surer method of exterminating pests is to immerse the specimens in a bath 

 of gasoline. Spraying gasoline from an atomizer upon pinned specimens will 

 destroy pests and not injure or relax the specimen. In shipping insects it is wise 

 to sprinkle the boxes with naphthalene flakes to prevent infection en route. When 

 I receive papered specimens I invariably place them in a can of gasoline over night. 

 Some insects, especially large moths, will become greasy from the fat which they 

 contain. Gasoline will remove prease if the specimen is soaked in it two or three 

 days. Gasoline and the fumes of formalin rob the museum pest of half his terrors. 

 Use them freely the moment you suspect danger. 



N. B.— TO ENABLE ME TO GIVE MY PERSONAL IN- 

 STRUCTION BY LETTER TO EACH PUPIL THE CORRESPOND- 

 ENCE COURSE WILL BE LIMITED. ONLY A SMALL EDITION 

 OF "THE BUTTERFLY FARMER" IS PUBLISHED, AND, ALL 

 SUBSCRIPTIONS DURING THE YEAR WILL BEGIN WITH VOL. 

 1, NO. 1. 



Address all letters: (MISS) XIMENA McGLASHAN, 



Truckee, California. 

 112 



