INSTRUMENTS, ETC., REQUIRED. 
47 
For examining specimens, a good pocket-glass of two 
or three powers is necessary, and a Stanhope or Cod- 
dington or Browning's platyscopic lens will be required 
for the very minute species. A square bung to stick 
the pins into is very handy, and a pair of insect pliers 
almost indispensable. 
Insects that have become dry, or old specimens, may 
be relaxed in a jar of damp sand, or by immersion in 
water ■ they can then be set by gumming them on 
card, and as soon as the gum is dry, damping one side 
only, and putting the limbs out ; afterwards serving 
the other side in the same way. If required, the body 
or any oi the limbs can be kept iu position by small 
card-braces with pins through them. 
A mixture of carbolic acid and spirits of wiue in the 
proportion of 1 to 18 or 20 is most useful in cleaning- 
old beetles, aud restoring their colours ; benzine is 
also of great service in removing grease, especially 
if mixed with a little carbolic acid ; this grease is 
very apt to appear in imperfectly dried specimens, 
especially if they have been left for too long a time in 
laurel. 
The collection may be arranged in a cabinet or in 
corked store boxes 1 : the latter are in some respects 
preferable, as a box can be easily intercalated, whereas 
a cabinet drawer cannot; at the same time the 
specimens are less likely to get disturbed iu a cabinet, 
in which they are always in a horizontal position. 
1 I have the whole of my collection in corked store boxes, 
which I obtained from Mr. E. W. Janson, 35, Little Kussell 
street, Bloomsbury, W.C. ; those are perfectly air-tight, aud 
are the best and cheapest store boxes I have ever seen the 
price was three guineas per dozen. — W. W. F. 
