10 
reasonable strength from three to five minutes is sufficient, 
and mosquitoes should not be allowed to remain exposed to 
the effects of the cyanide longer than this) they should be 
turned out on to a sheet of cork-carpet or pith ; they should 
be touched as little as possible, the manipulations necessary 
in arranging the wings and legs being performed with a 
needle. 
To Pin a Mosquito. 
Take a card disc and write on it all the data connected 
with the sptjcimen to be pinned, as follows : — (1) Name of 
locality, including alt/itudo. if necessary; <2) date — day, 
month, year — thus, 9.11.98; (J)) collector's name-, (4) any 
remarks of interest, e.g., “ Most troublesome species in 
district”; “Abundant in bamboo-jungle ” ; “Uncommon,” 
etc. Place the disc on a sheet of cork-carpet or pith, and 
picking up with the entomological forceps one of the fine 
No. 20 pins, thrust about one-third of an inch of it through 
the centre of the disc ; in doing this the pin should be held 
by the forceps below the middle, otherwise, owing to its 
fineness, it may bend and fail to pass through the card. Lay 
the specimen on its hack (turning it over with the aid of a 
needle or one of the No. 20 pins held in the forceps), and 
thrust the pin, Avhich now carries the disc, through the 
centre of the thorax, between the bases of the legs, until the 
tip of the pin projects one-sixth of an inch beyond the 
dorsal surface of the thorax* ; invert tlie disc (the specimen 
will then be right side up), and thrust an ordinary pin 
through the disc near the margin for the purpose of carrying 
both disc and specimen. The next and last thing to be done 
is to arrange the legs and wings as far as possible ; i.e , the 
wings must be made to project at an angle from the body, 
and not allowed to remain closed, and the legs must be dis- 
* Should it be found impracticable to proceed in the manner here pre- 
scribed, owing to the difficulty of making the specimen lie in the required 
position on its back, it may be pinned in the ordinary way through the 
middle of the thorax from the dorml side ; in this case, however, the 
specimen must he p'nniad fir/if Q.a., before it is mounted on the card disc) ; 
it should be drawn two-thirds of the way up the pin. .and the latter should 
then be thrust througJi the disc, holding the pin with the forceps lic/dir 
the specimen ; mount the disc on a common pin, as in the fii'st method. 
