CORRESPONDENCE COURSE IN ENTOMOLOGY. 



Conducted Under the Auspices of The Agassiz Association. 



Lesson X. — Relaxing; Nomenclature. 



FRAGILE AS SPUN GLASS. 



Dried butterflies are as fragile, as brittle as spun glass. Try to examine 

 a specimen which has been sent you in a folded paper envelope and the chances 

 are that you will break its legs, antennae or even its head, wings and body. 

 When insects are pinned or papered after being taken from the cyanide bottle, 

 or when placed upon the spreading board, they must ever afterward be handled 

 with extreme care, or they will snap and break at the least provocation. If you 

 receive a shipment of Lepidoptera enclosed in papers, place it in the relaxing 

 box without peeping into the papers. In a day or two the dried specimens will 

 have absorbed sufficient moisture to enable you to handle them safely. If you 

 wish to ship specimens, whether on pins or in papers, it is better to relax them 

 before they are packed. If the papers and their contents are soft, moist and 

 pliable they can be pressed closely together in the packing box, and if the 

 recipient places the box in the relaxing jar for a day or two he may examine 

 and dispose of them safely. If specimens are to be pinned for shipment the 

 bodies may be placed quite close together if in a fully relaxed condition. 



SIMPLE RELAXING JARS. 



You must become so accustomed to relaxing lepidoptera that you can do 

 it without the slightest worry or effort. Try all the different methods and use 

 the one which happens to be most convenient. The principle of each method 

 is to surround the dry butterfly with a moist atmosphere. It will absorb moisture 

 so readily that exposed to damp or foggy atmosphere the wings will frequently 

 droop. Scientists often place small specimens on a piece of sheet cork in a 

 saucer partly filled with water and covered with an inverted bell glass receiver. 

 Papers may be gently laid upon the cork, pins containing insects may be stuck 

 into the cork. A few drops of carbolic acid placed in the water will keep 

 away mold. A stone or earthen-ware crock with a close-fitting cover makes an 

 excellent relaxing jar. Cover the bottom of the crock with two or three inches 

 of moist sand, and on this lay a piece of sheet cork or blotting paper to hold the 

 specimens. A metal box or tin can with a cover that fits moderately tight will 

 answer instead of a crock. An old wash-boiler containing three or four inches 

 of damp sand is my favorite relaxing "box." If the cover does not fit securely 

 I place over it a wet blanket. Over the sand is placed a layer of cork-linoleum 

 in which specimens may be pinned or upon which papers or open cigar-boxes 

 containing insects may be placed. The wet blanket may be placed over a 



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