78 



PRESERVING INSECTS. 



time to time. From that period to this, no living 

 insect has been detected in the trunks. The plum- 

 age of the birds is as vivid as it was at the time I 

 •shot them ; and the moths and butterflies as splendid 

 8s when in life ; but most of the other insects, ex- 

 cept some of the beetles, have faded. Thus I am 

 enabled to say, by actual experiment, that the at- 

 mosphere of spirit of turpentine will allow neither 

 acarus nor any insect to live in it ; and, moreover, 

 that it does not injure the colour of preserved birds, 

 and furs, and insects, provided they do not come in 

 contact with the spirit of turpentine. 



I have used corrosive sublimate in paste for years ; 

 I have applied the solution to my hat, and to the long 

 Indian arrows (which are very subject to be eaten 

 by the worm), with complete success ; and here, in 

 Europe, with equal success, I have applied it to la- 

 dies' ostrich feathers, to camel-hair brushes, and to 

 the lining of my carriage. The solution has been 

 the remote cause of my discovering an entirely new 

 method of preserving specimens in natural history; 

 and which method at once shows upon what erro- 

 neous principles the old method has been, and is 

 still conducted. To conclude, the solution has 

 proved my best support ; without it, I could have 

 done nothing. 



•* Hoc solamen erat, sylvis hoc victor abibam." 



