PREPARATION AND MOUNTING OF INSECTS, 



49 



but this need not prevent their being used for so long a time. 

 They are fit for microscopical investigation a few days after 

 they have been mounted, and only ordinary care is necessary 

 for the prevention of accidents, such as the displacement of 

 the thin glass cover over the object, or injury to the object 

 itself by pressure. My method of mounting objects has 

 found favour with the Quekett Microscopical Club of London, 

 which ranks next in importance to the Royal Microscopical 

 Society. 146 of my slides, mounted in 1869 and the follow- 

 ing year, were lately presented to the Club (in January last) 

 by my friend Mr. Curties, and they formed the subject of a 

 paper by Mr. Curties and Mr. Inghen, and read by the 

 latter gentleman on the 23rd January at a meeting of the 

 Club. This paper was entitled " On Insect mounting in hot 

 climates/' and an abstract of it was given in the April num- 

 ber of the Club's Journal, which is now before me. It 

 commences thus : — 



" The object of this paper was to bring -under the notice of 

 the Club a collection of 146 slides of insects and parts of 

 insects mounted by Mr. Staniforth Green, of Colombo, 

 Ceylon, and presented to the Club by Mr. Curties, with 

 especial reference to the methods employed in mounting 

 them, by which the objects were preserved in a natural and 

 very beautiful manner. Reference was made to the usual 

 methods of mounting insects, in which much was often 

 sacrificed to the production of showy and attractive prepara- 

 tions, while there was sometimes great distortion of parts 

 and alteration of structure. The methods employed by Mr. 

 Green were then described. It appeared that he had for the 

 most part given up soaking the preparation in potash, and 

 those that had been so treated were the least successful 

 in the collection. Most of the specimens were admirably 

 suited for examination under the binocular, and shewed to 

 great advantage with baraboloid illumination. Many of the 



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