" SETTING "-BOARDS, AND " SETTING." 279 



groove in tlie cork. These in turn are held together by three 

 slips of wood, to which they are firmly nailed. In setting insects, 

 the pin should not be run into the groove just above the slips. 

 If run into the cork anywhere else, the pin can be pushed 

 through to any depth required, and, as a rule, the slips are so 

 high that, when the board is laid down on a table, none of the 

 pins touch the table." 



I some time ago saw, at the house of a well-known naturalist 

 and traveller, residing near Cirencester, an ingenious arrange- 

 ment applied to setting-boards, by which the groove of each 

 board could be altered so as to take in the body of the smallest 

 or the largest butterfly or moth at will. It was managed by one 

 half of the board being movable from its fellow, and capable of 

 being adjusted to any size, by simply turning a screw working in 

 a slot in a brass plate at top and bottom. 



Another method of setting insects is by means of *' blocks," 

 sections of varying widths cut from the uncorked setting-board, 

 the grooves only being corked. The insect being pinned in the 

 groove is extended with the setting needle, and the wings lightly 

 wrapped, when in position, with silk coming over and over, from 

 side to side. To do this nicely requires practice, to avoid marking 

 the wings with the silk. The " block " system of setting is more 

 used by collectors in the Midlands and the North than about 

 London or in the South. Insects should be left on the setting- 

 boards or blocks from two or three days to a week, or even more, 

 according to their size; and during this time should be kept 

 out of the dust, but allowed air to dry them thoroughly. 



The German system of setting by means of pieces of glass 

 dropped over the wings when in position is a clean neat method 

 of "flat" setting, allowing the inseot to be clearly seen if it be 

 truly " set " or not. 



When insects are from any cause too stiff to set without first 

 relaxing them — placing them in the cyanide bottle for a day or 

 night will often do this effectually, or placing them in a wet 

 corked zinc box, or in a box with damp sand, or in a small 

 "plaster box" will do equally as well. This is made by lining the 

 whole of the inside of a wooden box with plaster of Paris mixed 

 with water, and laid on from one to two inches thick. The 

 plaster is, of course, thoroughly damped, and the insects enclosed 



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