A Penny Weekly Magazine of Natural History. 



No. 16. FEBRUARY 14th, 1880. Vol. 



| 



HIGH OR LOW SETTING. 



X S we are probably addressing a 

 number of young Lepidopterists, 

 whose collections are yet to make, 

 the question of how they shall set 

 their specimens is one of very con- 

 siderable importance. Setting, of 

 course, is a matter of taste, but taste 

 is very much a matter of education, 

 and we are apt to prefer what we 

 have been accustomed to see. Nearly 

 twenty years ago there was a long 

 discussion in the pages of " The 

 Intelligencer" on the respective merits 

 of the high and low style of setting 

 in which, though all the argument 

 appeared to be with those who advo- 

 cated the high set, all the practice 

 was with those who set low, and has 

 continued to be so til] to-day. It is 

 true that twenty years ago many 

 collectors, perhaps not the best or 

 most careful, used simply to pin their 

 specimens on a piece of flat cork, and 

 strap down the wings on the same 

 level. This was the worst style of 

 setting, and we have seen very few 

 insects set in that way in recent 

 years. The pin was only about an 

 eighth of an inch below the body, 



i. 



and the wing tips always came in 

 contact with the bottom of the 

 cabinet drawer, Besides from the 

 mode of strapping down the wings 

 necessarily assumed a hollow curve, 

 which is certainly the least advan- 

 tageous for displaying the beauties 

 of an insect. This method, however, 

 has been so nearly abandoned that 

 we need not dwell upon it. Insects 

 are generally set now on boards, 

 with a groove for the body, and a 

 sloping surface for the wings, which 

 is so rounded as to give them a 

 graceful curve, very different from 

 the hollow curve named above. On 

 the Continent they are set in a 

 similar way, but instead of the wings 

 having a downward curve, they are 

 set perfectly flat. There is also 

 another great difference between the 

 British and Continental collectors. 

 The former use short pins, seldom 

 more than an inch long, the latter 

 use pins of nearly double the length. 

 There are therefore two peints of 

 considerable importance to consider. 

 Flat or curved set, long or short 

 pins. 



When an Entomologist has been 



