IMPLEMENTS FOP COLLECTING. 
17 
TO DRY INSECTS. 
In very wet weather insects may have to be dried artificially, to 
insure them against mildew. A good article for this purpose is a 
light tin or sheet-iron oven with detachable legs so made as to be set 
Oven for Drying Insects. 
over a lamp. In this the insects are placed in their papers. This is 
very useful in tropical countries where specimens may be taken at 
the rate of several hundred a day; but ordinarily one can use the 
kitchen oven for drying his specimens in wet weather. Lay them 
loosely on the oven shelf, with the door slightly open and they will 
dry nicely in an hour or two. Some very large-bodied insects take 
a good while to dry; and if a slit is made in the under side of the 
abdomen ivith a sharp knife, the contents taken out and the space 
carefully filled with cotton gently crowded in, the body will look 
better when dry. 
The bodies of many of the large moths, especially the males of 
the silk-spinning species, are filled with a natural oil which is liable 
to gradually ooze out and spread over the entire insect, ruining its 
appearance and perhaps causing the poor collector many a sigh over 
his lost treasure. This may be remedied by cleaning out the abdo¬ 
men of all such insects and stuffing with cotton. Another method 
