CHAPTEK Xy. 



Collecting and Preserving Insects. 



The taxidermist will, in the course of his avocation, require to 

 know something of various insects, their methods of capture, 

 and how to preserve and utilise them in his profession. 



Of the various orders of insects, Hemiptera (earwigs, field- 

 bugs, &c.), Orthoptera (cockroaches, grasshoppers, locusts, 

 &c.), Diptera (flies, &c.), Neuroptera (dragon flies. May flies, 

 &c.), Lepidoptera (butterfles and moths), Coleoptera (beetles), 

 and Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, and Ichneumon-flies, &c.), the 

 Lepidoptera and Coleoptera will find most favour in his eyes, 

 owing to their brilliancy of colouring, variety of shape and size, 

 and easiness of manipulation. 



It must be remembered, however, that insects should be 

 collected with a definite purpose by the taxidermist, and 

 not merely for pastime, or he will degenerate into that most 

 odious of all created beings — a collector for the sake of 

 collecting, or what used to be called an "exterminator." 

 Indeed, I have known of a case in which over 1600 of the males 

 of a certain species were caught in one day, " assembled " by 

 the attractions of seven or eight females. These figures seem 

 incredible, but for the fact that 1 myself saw part of the spoil 

 displayed on a 12ft. board. I^eed I say that such slaughter as 

 this is far beyond the bounds of fair collecting, and that such 

 courses, persevered in, give the odious title of "exterminators" 

 to all those who practise it. In this particular instance the 

 moths were made up into " pictures," which, though ornamental 

 perhaps for a workman's home, hardly justify the slaughter 

 of any but the very commonest or harmful species. The 



