— 51 



housed in cork-lined boxes, which contained the spe- 

 cimens on the top as well as 011 the bottom. But, in 

 course of time, I came to hear of turf, which I 

 thereupou gave a trial, with the result that I have 

 continued to use it ever since. In the first place, 

 naturally, it is softer and thicker than cork, and it 

 is thus found easier to pin the lepidoptera into it 

 than into the last-mentioned substance. Its depth 

 or thickness, too, gives the pins a firmer hold than 

 does the cork. I have found, also, that insects kept 

 in peat-lined boxes are much less liable to become 

 detached or get shaken loose in being rnoved about, 

 on a journey, than those in cork-lined boxes, and 

 this applies not only to small numbers of lepidoptera 

 sent from one entomologist to another, but also to 

 whole collections transported in their entirety. I sup- 

 pose these facts are already well-known and appre- 

 ciated on the Continent, but this is hardly yet the 

 case here, I may add. Turf is only just getting to 

 be known in England. 



For people of no fixed residence, or those who 

 are liable to frequent removals, I think that store- 

 boxes {Insekten- Kasten) are preferable to cabiuets, 

 as they are more portable and easier to pack, if 

 you contemplate shifting your collection. A cabinet 

 is a very large and cumbersome affair, and difficult 

 to move, withal. While on the subject of store- 

 boxes, I ouglit, perhaps, to say that my experience is, 

 that those boxes which contain specimens on one side 

 only (instead of on both top and bottom) are to be 

 preferred to boxes holdiug insects on both sides, as I 

 have found that lepidoptera attached to the inside 

 of the lid of a box, are apt, from their strained 

 and un-natural position (facing downwards), to get 

 shaken loose, falling to the bottom amongst the other 

 inmates, and causiug damage, — perhaps un-doing 

 the work of years. 



It is always as well not to „put all your eggs 

 into one basket." Glass-topped boxes I have always 

 carefully avoided; the glass is very liable to get 

 broken, and the contents of the boxes reduced liter- 

 ally to pwoder. I have heard of nearly a wohle 

 collection — from India — perishing in this way, 

 except for a few specimens saved. Natural history 

 objects (speakiug, of course, for my own particular 

 branch of the science) are also, it should be remem- 

 bered, prone to fade from the continued and unre- 

 mitting action of light, when thus exposed in cases 

 having glass lids. Consequently, there is only one 

 remedy, though no eure that I knowof, i. e. period- 



ical renewal of deteriorated butterflies and moths. 

 For those who do not wish to go to much ex- 

 pense, perhaps, at first, card-board store-boxes (or, 

 cartons, as the French, I believe, geuerally call them), 

 are as readily obtainable and as useful, to all prac- 

 tical intents and purposes, as the more costly and 

 elaborate kinds in wood, and, I am not at all sure 

 that, for boxes that have to be often transported, 

 the store-boxes are not better adapted to resist shock 

 than the wooden ones; besides, they are lighter in 

 weight than the latter. But, in moving a collection, 

 three precautions, at any. rate, are indispensable to 

 security, viz : — (1) see that all insects are firmly 

 pinned in, before being confided to the (?) tender 

 mercies of the railway authorities or the furniture 

 removers, (2) take out all preservatives such as naph- 

 thaline & c. which would be apt to shake loose, and 

 (3) allow plenty of space and packing material bet- 

 ween each store-box, and on all sides, so as to avoid 

 all risk of breakages, etc., as far as these can well 

 be guarded against. It is often easy enough to get 

 together a goodly number of lepidoptera, but it is 

 another matter to keep them in proper order and, 

 for this, a certain expenditure of time and patience 



— let alone other things — is a sine qua non. 

 But, once all specimens have been duly andsuitably sto- 

 red,the chief essential has been aecomplished. Of course, 

 a certain number of casualties are inevitable, from time 

 to time, especially when a collection is first started, 



— as most people engaged in the study of this 

 branch of research, probably know only too well, — 

 but these can be reduced to a very small figure, 

 even if not entirely abolished, by the exercise of a 

 little care and forethought. Now, cork is all very 

 well, in a way, no doubt, for low-set insects on 

 short pius (as used in England), which do not require 

 to be deeply pushed into their places, as the "high- 

 set 1 ' Continental lepidoptera on long pins do. But 

 high-set specimens in cork-lined boxes are, by reason 

 of their (if I may say so) "top-heaviness", atid the 

 consequent pressure they exert on the cork, very 

 liable to get jolted out of position. It will thus be readily 

 understood, that high-set insects in cork-lined boxes 

 are more likely to get loose than low-set lepidoptera 

 on short pins would be, in an identical position, the 

 latter strainiug less on the cork, than would the 

 former. High-set specimens in boxes intended for 

 low-set insects, can only result in disaster; but, on 

 the other hand, low-set lepidoptera can, with perfect 

 impunity, be aecommodated in (cork-lined) boxes desig- 



