COLLECTIONS AND RECOLLECTIONS. 
503 
ing a specimen is to preserve its colour, if possible, which is not of¬ 
ten the case, and not to press it so flat as to crush any of the parts, 
because that renders it impossible subsequently to analyse them. 
When specimens have been thoroughly dried, they should be fast¬ 
ened, by strong glue, not gum, nor paste, to half sheet of good stout 
white paper : the place where they were found, or the person from 
whom they were obtained, should be written at the foot of each spe¬ 
cimen, and the name at the lowest right hand corner. If any of the 
flowers, or fruits, or seeds, be loose, they should be put into small 
paper cases, which may be glued in some convenient place to the 
paper. These cases are extremely useful: and fragments so pre¬ 
served, being well adapted for subsequent analysis, will often prevent 
the specimen itself from being pulled in pieces. The best size for 
the paper appears by experience to be 10i inches by 16i. Linnaeus 
used a size resembling our foolscap, but it is much too small; and a 
few employ paper lli inches by \8i : but that is larger than is ne¬ 
cessary, and much too expensive. In analysing dried specimens, 
the flowers or fruits should always be softened in boiling-water: this 
renders all the parts pliable, and often restores them to their original 
position. In arranging specimens when thus prepared, every species 
of the same genus should be put into a wrapper, formed of a whole 
sheet of paper, and marked at the lower left corner with the name of 
the genus. The genera should then be put together, according to 
their natural orders. To preserve plants against the depredations of 
insects, by which, especially the little Anobium castaneum, they are 
apt to be much infested, it has been recommended to wash each speci¬ 
men with a solution of corrosive sublimate, in camphorated spirits of 
wine, but, independently of this being a doubtful mode of preserva¬ 
tion, it is expensive, and, in large collections, extremely trouble¬ 
some. I have found that suspending little open paper bags, filled 
with camphor, in the inside of the doors of my cabinets, is a far 
more simple and a most effectual protection. It is true, that cam¬ 
phor will not drive away the larvas that may be carried into the her¬ 
barium in fresh specimens; but the moment they become perfect 
insects, they quit the cases without leaving any eggs behind them. 
J. Lindley, Esq. Ini. to Bot. 
To preserve Moths and Butterflies. —To J. K. page 426, 
we refer him to Vol. 1, page 89, and 142—3, where the readiest 
modes of killing and fixing to the setting board is detailed and illus¬ 
trated by engravings. We may name two or three other modes of kil¬ 
ling them, previous to their being placed in the cabinet. As soon 
as the insect is caught, to put it in a wide-mouthed bottle, containing 
