BUGS, OR HEMIPTERA. 
57 
should be fastened to a piece of mica or to a round bit of 
card-board with a little gum-arabic, and the pin placed 
through the mica or card, or they may be transfixed with 
very fine silver wire ; this wire must then be inserted in 
a bit of cork, through which the common insect -pin is 
placed. 
Beetles that are collected in remote countries should 
always be transported in alcohol. When they are to re- 
main long in alcohol it should be changed once, then 
they will keep for years uninjured. After they have been 
in alcohol for two or three weeks there is no need of its 
covering them, as a little in the bottom of the bottle will 
keep them sufficiently moist; but they should never be 
allowed to dry. 
Beetles may be preserved in a weak solution of carbolic 
acid as readily as in alcohol. This has the additional ad- 
vantage of preserving the specimens that have been im- 
mersed in it from the ravages of noxious insects for some 
time. Glycerine can be used to advantage in preserving 
beetles that have delicate colors which fade in alcohol; 
but they cannot be pinned without cleansing. 
Bugs^ or Hemiptera^ may be found generally upon plants. 
The common thistle (Cirsium lanceolatum) furnishes a pas- 
ture for several species. Numerous representatives of this 
order may be found on low bushes, and in the grass during 
summer and autumn. At least one species may be found 
in cheap boarding-houses during the midnight hours. The 
almost endless variety of Plant Lice come under this head, 
and may be taken everywhere on plants during summer 
and autumn. 
These insects, like the beetle, are first immersed in 
alcohol, and afterwards placed upon pins, with the legs 
arranged in natural positions, and the peculiar sucking- 
tube, with which they are all provided, brought well for- 
ward so as to be more easily examined. The numerous 
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