106 
NOTES ON THE COLLECTING AND 
with them) apart from the rest; but all “ stifling-boxes” (as 
they are termed by their cockney inventors, and within which 
Coleoptera will live the term of their natural lives) and other 
such absurdities, although they may serve to amuse children, 
are worse than useless. 
Next, as regards 
The Modus operandi in mounting Coleoptera. 
Much might be said—this being perhaps the most import¬ 
ant item for our consideration, and one on which the value 
of our collections in a scientific point of view, apart from 
their symmetry of arrangement (which has a charm essen¬ 
tially its own), almost exclusively depends. 
Imprimis , then, let the collector provide himself with a 
strong box, about the size of a dressing-case (small enough 
to be taken charge of personally whilst on his travels, and 
which must not be allowed ever to be treated as baggage ): 
a leather cover to strap over it will be found desirable, and 
will render it easy of carriage when on the move. Let this 
box contain a gigantic wide-mouthed bottle (to be nearly 
filled with laurel leaves, cut up and bruised) ; a smaller one for 
spirits of wine (which may sometimes be required for the 
large and dark species, though it is generally better to avoid 
this mode of preserving them when setting boards are to be 
had); another, of the same size, for gum (composed of three 
parts of Tragacanth to one of Arabic, both in powder; to be 
mixed in water containing a grain of Corrosive Sublimate, 
without which it will not keep, until of a consistency just 
thick* enough to run); a small, partitioned box, to hold pins 
* It may be well to state that this gum is of an extremely absorbent 
nature, and that nearly a fortnight is usually required before it can be 
properly made. The best plan is, to keep adding a little water (and 
stirring it) every few days until it is of the proper consistency, which 
should be so thick that the bottle may be almost inverted without its 
