SETTING BOARDS. 



275 



anciently practised the "setting" of lepidoptera with four or 

 eight braces, two or one underneath and two or one on top of 

 the wings. The wings were then not so fully extended as now, 

 but the body was pressed as close to the setting board as it was 

 possible to get it. The next step was the cork setting board, 

 cut to show in section nearly a half oval, the bodies were a little 

 raised from the set, and the rounded points of the fore and hind 

 wings invariably touched the paper of the cabinet when placed 

 therein, curling up wherever they touched. 



Fig. 47 shows a section of a "setting board" designed to 

 remedy this evil. The block A is formed of a piece of fin. deal, 

 12in. to 14in. long, and of varying widths according to the 

 insects required to be set. Exactly in the centre a groove is 

 " ploughed " to the depth of iin. ; from the outer edges of this 



SSliS liiiiSiSSii 



JffSl I SI ! I a 11 f i aip; 



Fig. 47.— Section of "Setting" Board. 



groove B the board should be "pitched" or " bevelled " iin. on 

 each side to its outer edge. On top of each half, a piece of 

 iin. cabinet cork C C is glued, and also in the groove B, where 

 shown at C. 



Presuming that you have a "Red Admiral" to set with liin. 

 or a No. 13 pin, you will find, if allowing ^in. for the body, that 

 after setting an insect in a board of this kind the matter will be 

 pretty evenly adjusted — that is to say, about iin. of pin above 

 and below the butterfly. This allows the insect when placed in 

 the cabinet to be well clear of the paper, and is the mode now 

 generally adopted by those entomologists who effect a com- 

 promise between the ridiculous English low setting and the 

 Continental "high-set." What the real objections are to this 

 latter setting it has always puzzled me to discover, unless it is 

 the true British objection to anything foreign or " French." 



