THE YOUNG NATUBALIST. 



151 



body during the drying, but if glue is used the body is firmly held in posi- 

 tion until the whole is dry and rigid. Mr. Keys, of Plymouth, has suggested 

 that instead of hot glue I should use glue dissolved in acetic acid, which 

 saves the bother of heating and is always ready to hand. The best Russian 

 glue must be used, and allowed plenty of time to dissolve without heat. In 

 this way it can be prepared of any thickness. In will be an advantage to 

 have two bottles of glue solution, one much thicker than the other, so that 

 the exact thickness of glue can be obtained to suit the requirments of any 

 particular insect. There are many incidental advantages attending the plan 

 of setting beetles with glue. For instance, a large number taken at the 

 same place and under similar conditions, can be set on the same piece of card, 

 and a note written on it giving date and locality, containing all the information 

 it is necessary to know. But if the insects are set on separate cards, either 

 each card must be dated and marked with locality, or it must be numbered 

 so as to refer to a catalogue, which must also be kept containing the particu- 

 lars of capture, &c. This will take so much time and be so troublesome that 

 young collectors are certain not to follow it, and yet is of the utmost im- 

 portance that they should know beyond a doubt where and when each speci- 

 men was taken, for it may often happen that amongst their captures some 

 new or very rare species will be found, and which, of course, they have not 

 sufficient knowledge and experience to recognise at the time. 



Again, the number of insects taken on a day's collecting in a good locality 

 is so large that it is not possible to set them all, and it would consume far 

 too much time to examine each one in the field, so as only to bring home 

 what are required, and the collector would not know them all, even if he 

 looked at each with a magnifying glass, but when he has them at home laid 

 out on blotting paper he would be able to recognise some at once, these he 

 would set if he required them, and if not they would be passed to one side; 

 any that appeared to be new he would, of course, set, but the determining 

 the species, which takes time and is attended with some little difficulty, would 

 be left for a future time. All those not required need not be thrown away, 

 but may be put into weak spirit, that is methylated spirit to which an equal 

 bulk of water has been added. In buying methylated spirit be sure yon are 

 not supplied with methylated finish, which is often sold for spirit, as it con- 

 tains some gum or resin, and when water is mixed with it the gum is precipi- 

 tated and the fluid looks milky. If undiluted methylated spirit is used it will 

 harden and stiffen the insects so much that they cannot afterwards be set, 

 but in weak spirit they will keep for years, in nearly their original condition, 

 and may be mounted at any time. 



At a leisure time or during the winter months when collecting cannot be 



