342 



Taxidermy. 



with sand, poured in at the mouth, and with a stick the requisite 

 degree of convexity can easily be given to one side. The other side, 

 or that where the incision was made, should be laid flat on a board, 

 and secured in its place with pins and strips of paper, and the fins 

 displayed as taste may dictate. When thoroughly dry the sand 

 may be shaken out. Fishes preserved in either of these ways make 

 a fine show if displayed in glass cases on a white board. A coat of 

 copal varnish applied as soon as the skin is dry, retains much of the 

 colour which otherwise would fade, besides giving a fresh and life- 

 like appearance to the specimen. 



INSECTS, &c. 



No branch of the wide subject of Entomology can be followed up 

 by residents in the interior with greater facility and with more sa- 

 tisfaction than Entomology. Putting Botany aside for awhile, there 

 is no kindred pursuit which, even to females, and perhaps to them 

 especially, affords so many inducements to cultivate it as the study 

 of insect life. I need only refer my reader to the nearest ant-hill, 

 or a bee hive in the garden, or rear from the egg, through the suc- 

 cessive stages of caterpillar, chrysalis and butterfly, any one of our 

 native species. In these instances, much will be found not only to 

 attract the attention but to induce the exercise of the higher powers 

 of the mind ; but my object here is merely to point out the simplest 

 means of preserving specimens of insects. It would be idle to point 

 out, the advantages of cork-lined, air-tight, and glazed insect cases, 

 with the usual adjuncts of entomological pins ; but I would here 

 deal merely with the ordinary means at the disposal of almost every 

 resident in the interior, showing how a collection of insects may be 

 made. If the collection is intended for tarnsmission to some distant 

 locality where the specimen can be finally prepared and arranged, 

 nothing more is required with respect to most insects (except but- 

 terflies and moths) than to put them in a pickle jar two-thirds filled 

 with any spirit of moderate strength, which when filled, corked up, 

 and properly secured from leakage and evaporation, may be trans- 

 mitted to any part of the world. After this the individual speci- 

 mens can be pinned, set (a term accorded to the disposal of the legs", 

 wings, &c, antennae or horns), in the manner considered most suitable 



