CORRESPONDENCE COURSE IN ENTOMOLOGY. 



Conducted Under the Auspices of the Agassiz Association. 

 Lesson IX: Spreading and Mounting Lepitoptera. 



HOW TO PRESERVE A BUTTERFLY. 



"How shall I preserve a butterfly?" is a frequent question. Do not 

 preserve it at all. There is nothing to preserve. There are species which have 

 no mouth organs and which, of course, cannot eat, and the kinds which do 

 partake of food merely sip a little nectar from the flowers. There is absolutely 

 nothing to decay about a butterfly, nothing which gives out the slightest offensive 

 odor, nothing which requires a preservative. In the bodies of the larger moths 

 are juices which will evaporate readily in an ordinarily dry atmosphere, but 

 which may cause mold and spoil the specimen, if it is packed in a close recep- 

 tacle, such as a tin box with a tight fitting cover, or if it is folded in a paper 

 envelope which excludes the air. Scientists frequently make an incision in the 

 under side of the large bodies of these moths, remove the contents and fill the 

 cavity with cotton. If the edges of the incision are brought together and allowed 

 to dry there will be no evidence of the operation unless one examines closely. 

 If moths are spread promptly this is unnecessary, for their bodies will dry if ex- 

 posed to the air. After being spread the bodies of some moths will "grease," 

 as it is termed, but a bath of gasoline remedies this. There is a little blood in 

 the bodies of moths and butterflies, or something which is termed blood. Last 

 year I received $5, with an urgent order for 50 drops of butterfly blood which 

 a physician needed for some serum. I did not fill the order, nor do I believe that 

 any one could have filled it, though it is said that physicians in China secure 

 juices from the bodies of butterflies which are highly prized as cultures in labora- 

 tory work. In spite of all this, however, you do not have to worry about 

 preserving your butterflies. They will keep for a thousand years and will re- 

 tain their brilliant, exquisite colorings if they are properly shielded fom light, 

 dust and their other enemies. 



YOU MUST SPREAD THE WINGS. 



You should spread the wings of your butterflies and moths, but this is 

 done not to preserve them, but to permit of a better examination of the wings, 

 to insure symmetry and uniformity to the collection, and to properly display 

 the markings, structure and colorings which the folded wings conceal. All 

 beginners exaggerate the difficulties of spreading a butterfly. Collectors differ 

 greatly in the details of spreading insects and no two follow exactly the same 

 set of motions perhaps, yet all accomplish the purpose. It is worth five cents 

 to spread a butterfly properly, though I understand that the general price paid 

 is three and one-half cents. In my father's younger days Doll had a national 

 reputation for spreading lepidoptera and received ten cents per specimen. He 

 would mend a broken antenna or a torn wing whenever possible and was 

 generally employed to spread exotics. Practice is the essential thing and almost 

 any one, by almost any of the methods, can become quite expert if he is careful 

 and painstaking. 



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