BUTTERFLIES, SPHINGES, AND MOTHS. 199 
they have excavated a groove for the reception of 
the body, as deep as the insertion of the wings. 
They are otherwise preserved as above directed. 
In the larger butterflies, moths, and sphinges, 
the abdomen should be perforated, its contents ex- 
tracted, and then stuffed with fine cotton, after 
having been washed internally with the solution 
of corrosive sublimate. Indeed, the cotton should 
also be rubbed with the arsenical soap before being 
introduced, as these insects are particularly liable 
to the attack of smaller insects, such as the mite. 
Several of the moth tribe are extremely liable to 
change their colour some time after they have been 
placed in a cabinet. This change is frequently oc- 
casioned by an oily matter which is common to 
many of them. This first makes its appearance in 
small spots on’ the body, but soon spreads itself 
over the abdomen, thorax, and wings ; and ends in 
a total obliteration of all the beautiful markings, 
A method which has been sometimes successfully 
adopted, is to sprinkle all the wings with powdered 
chalk, and holding a heated iron over it 3 the chalk 
absorbs the grease, and may then be blown off by 
means of a pair of small bellows. Another way of 
applying the chalk, and perhaps the better of the 
two, is to throw some powdered chalk on the face 
of a heated iron, and then put it into a piece of 
linen cloth, and apply it to the body of the insect ; 
