THE ENTOMOLOGIST’S WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER. 
109 
of llie imiiiner and custom of making 
Collections of Lepidoj)tera in Great 
Britain. 
One reason wliy Britons hitherto al- 
niost exclusively collect only British 
Lepidoptera lies in their great patriotism. 
We find the same thing in most islanders; 
thus, in Japan, according to the latest 
information, exactly similar conduct lakes 
place. But it can only injure Science to 
permit political and patriotic feelings to 
influence scientific undertakings. 
Another cause of the isolation of British 
Lepidopterists from those of the Continent 
certainly is the very different method of 
preparing their specimens in use by the 
lurmer. It is remarkable that the 
English, who, in almost every re- 
spect, are in advance of other nations 
in all other matters, in this remain 
where they were nearly a century ago. 
Can this hapjien from a feeling of re- 
verence towards the founders of our 
Science, and thus they feel obliged to 
retain their method, or is it adopted 
because no other method is known ? It 
is a fact that throughout Europe all col- 
lectors have made great progress since 
the days of Linneeus in the method of 
exhibiting insects, and all agree in using 
the same way of preparing them. Thus 
among us Lepidoptera are stuck on long 
pins, and are prepared so that the wings 
remain in a horizontal position. In 
England Lepidoptera are always stuck 
on short pins, and the wings are de- 
pressed, so that the points are in contact 
with the bottom of the case. The fol- 
lowing disadvantages arise from this 
method : — 
1. The points of the wings are easily 
injured, csimcially in the smaller and 
more delicate species. 
2. If there are mites in the boxes, 
although the greatest care be taken, they 
have the greatest facility to get access to 
all the specimens, and to injure them. 
3. Every porous body can absorb 
moisture, and that wood does so is un- 
fortunately too well known in the case 
of ctibinels and other articles of furni- 
ture, and this perhaps still more in the 
moist climate of England. This hu- 
midity, however little it may be, is natu- 
rally imparted to that portion of the 
insects which of necessity rests upon the 
wood. 
4. When it is wished to send Lepi- 
doptera away, it is necessary to make 
the pins very fast, especially those in 
thick-bodied species, which is almost 
impossible with short pins ; at all events, 
the feet must be broken off. 
5. The greatest scientific advantage 
of long pins is that a little ticket re- 
cording the exact time and place when 
and where each specimen was found may 
he placed under the insect on the same 
pin. With short pins there is not so 
much space for a ticket, which is then 
also covered by the insect, and lost by 
being overlooked. But even in specially 
British collections it is useful and almost 
necessary to specify the particular locality 
of every specimen, of which I had the 
best proof in the rich collections of 
Messrs. Bond and Shepherd, in London, 
which I had the pleasure to see. If 
the possessor knows the origin of each 
specimen, yet after his death no one 
knows it, and then, according to my 
view, half the scientific value of the col- 
lection is lost. 
Mr. Shepherd, when he could not ex- 
actly deny the disadvantages of the 
English method, said to me that he 
found it more pleasing to the eyes. But 
here it becomes, as in most things, not a 
consideration of beauty, but ol utility, 
and then beauty is often a very relative 
idea, resting only on custom, lor we prove 
our method to be the best. Entomo- 
logists are persuaded that the feeling of 
beauty should be restricted to itself, in 
order that they may be concerned to keep 
their insects clean and fresh. Mr. Bond, 
