14 



THE HUMMING BIRD. 



[February i, 1891 



Supposing that I had been successful, and obtained 

 all what could be had in the Animal, Vegetable and 

 Mineral Kingdoms from the Country where the 

 Museum is, the next move should be to purchase 

 some typical specimens of all the families of Animals, 

 Plants and Minerals which are not found in the 

 Country, after which, if my means allow it, purchase 

 all typical specimens of Genera of Animals, Plants 

 and Minerals found in all the World, and lastly all the 

 species inhabiting this World ; but of course this last 

 part of my programme can only be done if money is 

 plentiful ; and only Capitals such as London, Paris, Ber- 

 lin, New York, Vienna, St. Petersburg, etc., or Million- 

 naires can do that ; but what I want to impress on all 

 is this : That it is not necessary to dispose of large 

 sums for the Creation of Museums. It is quite the 

 reverse, and very often it will be found that a small 

 local Museum which has been created by a Scientific 

 man working for love of Science, and with very 

 limited means, is even more useful to the Country 

 people than all the magnificent Museums created at 

 large expenses in the Capitals. Now, supposing I 

 had ^100,000 instead of ,£1,000, I should work 

 exactly in the same manner, the only difference 

 would consist in building two, three, four or more 

 similar houses, devoting one to Mammals and Birds, 

 another to Crustaceœ, Insects and Shells ; one to 

 Minerals, one to Botany, one to Fossils since the 

 Creation of the World, etc., etc. ; each with its 

 Corresponding Library, and Rooms or Galleries 

 adapted for Students. 



A. Boucard. 



An Easy Way of Making One Hundred 

 Pounds Sterling a Year in Collecting 

 Specimens of Natural History at Leisure 



Time. 



Continued fro/it page y. 



Leave them in that bottle for a fortnight, then take 

 them out, and clean them a second time. Wrap each 

 specimen separately with a linen cloth, flax, or any 

 other soft substance, and pack them in a tin box well 

 filled with flax to avoid friction among them during 

 the voyage. 



Then pour some of the strongest alcohol or spirit 

 you can get, enough to soak them with. The box 

 to be then soldered down. 



INSECTS. 



Insects are very numerous. Their body is formed 

 of three distinct parts : the head, the thorax, and the 

 abdomen. 



They are divided by some authors into nine Orders, 

 by others into eleven and more ; but the principal 

 Orders are eight, as follow : 



1. Coleoptera, or Insects known vulgarly as May 

 Bugs, Stag beetles, etc. 



2. Lepidoptera, or Butterflies and Moths. 



3. Orthoptera, or Tits, Earwigs, Grass Hoppers. 



3. Hemiptera, or Bugs. 



5. Neuroptera, or Dragon Flies, 



6. Hymenoptera, or Wasps, Drones, Bees, Ants, etc, 



7. Diptera, or Flies, Gad flies, Mosquitos, etc. 



8. Parasita, or Lice. etc. 



To collect Coleoptera, Orthoptera and Hemiptera. 

 it is necessary to carry several bottles with alcoholic 

 saw dust. 



The way to prepare it is to fill up the bottle to 

 the third part with thin saw dust ; then pour in a 

 wine glass of alcohol or strong spirit, and shake it 

 together for about five minutes.' If you have no 

 alcohol or spirit, you may put in the bottle the same 

 quantity of benzine. 



In that bottle can be put all the Insects above 

 mentioned. 



On returning from an expedition, take them out of 

 the bottles and pin the Coleoptera through the right 

 elytra (the wings, in form of tweezers, which cover 

 the abdomen are the elytrae), so that the point of 

 the pin may emerge under the thorax, between the 

 second and the third pair of legs. You will take care 

 to use pins adjusted to the size of the Insects. 



The Orthoptera and Hemiptera must be pinned on 

 the thorax, and the pin must come out between the 

 two foremost legs.' 



They must be put with symmetry in corked boxes, 

 taking care to sink deeply the pins to avoid their de- 

 tachment in the voyage. 



These boxes should be put in the sun for a few 

 days and when you see that the Insects are dry, you 

 will pour a small quantity of benzine in the box and 

 paste bands of paper all round. The benzine is to 

 be employed for every object of natural history which 

 can be devoured by Insects. 



All boxes containing Insects, Bird Skins, Crusta- 

 cean, etc., must be preserved by pouring benzine into 

 before shutting and pasted with bands of paper. 

 If you have no pins, or corked boxes, send them in 

 the same bottles in which they have been collected. 

 If so, the bottles should be filled up completely with 

 alcoholic saw dust, and some paper pasted round ; 

 then, by this means, if the bottles should break during 

 the voyage, the Insects will be preserved. 



Lepidoptera, Neuroptera, Hymenoptera and Diptera 

 are collected with the butterfly net. 



The specimens collected must be very perfect. 

 The way to kill the Lepidoptera and Neuroptera is to 

 press their thorax between the thumb and finger ; this 

 must be done with much care ; because if the beautiful 

 colours of the butterflies are spoiled, they are of no 

 value. 



They are to be pinned through the thorax and put 

 in corked boxes like the Orthoptera and Hemiptera. 



If you have no pins or cork, you can send them 

 enclosed in pieces of paper, the wings shut one on the 

 other and each specimen separately. These pieces 

 of paper should be folded in the form of a triangle 

 and of a size according to the Insect. 



When you have two or three hundred specimens, 

 you must pack them in a wooden box in good order, 

 pour a little benzine in it, and paste paper all over the 

 box. 



