SPIDERS. 5,7 



Mr. Bullock recommended that Crabs and all other crustaceous 

 animals, should be immersed in corrosive sublimate and water 

 for an hour previous to their being put into attitudes. 



When the joints become loose they are in general attached by 

 glue, but the cement is much better. 



K. B. — On no account whatever use warm water in cleaning 

 crustaceous animals, as it is certain to change their colors. 



CHAPTER V. 



PRESERVING SPIDERS, GxlLLY-WORMS, AND INSECTS, 

 SPIDERS. 



The general directions which we shall give respecting insects, 

 hold good as to Spiders, only we must mention there is consid- 

 erable difficulty in preserving the bodies of Spiders, which gen- 

 erally, in a very short time, shrink into a shapeless mass. To 

 prevent this, the body should be pricked with the triangular awl 

 and the contents pressed out ; it should then be stuffed with very 

 fine carded cotton or down, which can be pushed in by a pricker, 

 blunted a little at the point. When properly distended, the small 

 aperture should be filled up with a little cement, or a solution of 

 gum-arabic. The legs of the larger species, such as the Bird- 

 catching Mygale and the Scorpions, are also liable to shrink, and 

 should be stuff ed in the same manner as that of the body. 



In those species of Spiders which we hare thus prepared, and 

 whose colors are rich and likely to be affected by the action of 

 the atmosphere, we must endeavor to arrest its progress by im- 

 mediately imbuing the animal, after it is set up, with the solution 

 of corrosive sublimate, and in an hour after with a thin coating 

 of a very weak white-spirit varnish ; for this purpose, take a tea- 

 spoonful of the ordinary white-spirit or elastic varnish, and add 

 to it two teaspoonfuls of spirit of wine ; apply this wash with a 

 fine camel hair brush, which will quickly dry, and have a strong 

 tendency to preserve the color. The varnish, being thus reduced 

 in strength, will not leave any glass on the insect, nor will it be 

 at all perceptible. 



Mr. Samouelle, author of ' ' The Entomologist's Useful Com- 

 pendium," in speaking of preserving Spiders, says : "The best 



