284) PEACTICAL TAXIDEEMY. 



should be glued down on top and bottom ; on tbis a few small 

 strips of tbe same cork running across witb interstices left 

 between tbem. On top of this another sheet of cork, thus 

 forming three thicknesses, in which the pin is pushed as far as 

 it will go. In the case of large-bodied moths, or any valuable 

 insects, it is as well to support the abdomen with a layer of 

 wool, cross-pinning the body on either side to prevent it jarring 

 or shifting. The box may then, for greater security, be wrapped 

 in a sheet of wool and tied up. The address should not be 

 written on the box, or the stamjDS affixed thereto, but on a 

 direction label, otherwise some vigorous post-office sorter, or 

 stamper, will convince you to your sorrow that he scorns such 

 paltry protection as is afforded by the triple alliance of wood, 

 cork, and wool. 



The Germans cover the bottoms of a great many of their 

 entomological boxes with peat, and this certainly holds the 

 long pins firmly in transit ; and it is also much less expensive 

 than cork. 



Foreign insects, when space is limited, may be sent home 

 unpinned and unset, their wings folded over their backs, and 

 each specimen wrapped in silver or tissue paper. It is asto- 

 nishing what a number of them will pack in this manner in the 

 compass of an ordinary cigar box. 



"Drying houses" are sold by most of the dealers, but are 

 expensive and cumbersome, and are really only of service when 

 travelling, or collecting away from home. Tor this reason I 

 suggest the following — which is a store box and receptacle for 

 setting boards combined. 



Make of |in. deal a box 20in. long and 15in. wide by 4in. 

 deep (all inside measurements), glue up all but the front piece 

 (4in. wide by 20in. long), which merely tie in its place whilst 

 glueing up the others. Cut the box when dry through the 

 4;in. back piece to exactly halve it. Hinge each half with strong 

 hinges. It now resembles an open backgammon board box, 

 without its two fronts. Take now a strip of lin. deal, 15in. 

 long, and form it with a plough plane to the shape shown in 

 Fig. 49. The part marked A will be -|in. thick, the parts marked 

 B B overhang ^in., and rise from A to B B to the height which 

 the thickness of your setting boards determine. Divide this 



