Quills. These are of great use in carrying minute insects. They should be neatly stopped with cork and cement at one end, the other end should be provided with a small movable cork for a stopper. Each end should be wrapped carefully round with a silk thread waxed, to prevent them from splitting.
Pocket Larvæ-Box. For collecting caterpillars, this box is very essential: it consists merely of a chip-box, with a hole pierced in the center of the top and bottom, and covered with gauze, for the admission of air. It will be necessary to put into the box some of the leaves on which the larvæ feed, as they are very voracious, and cannot long exist without food.
Pill-Boxes. No entomologist should be without five or six dozen of these useful articles. They are of great value in collecting the smaller species of lepidopterous insects, such as the tinea, etc., and only one specimen should be put in each box, as, if more than one, they are apt to injure each other’s wings by beating against each other.
Setting Boards. These must be made of deal board, from a foot to fifteen inches long, and eight or ten inches broad, with a piece of wood run across the ends, to prevent them from warping. They are covered with cork, which must be perfectly smooth on the surface, with white paper pasted over it. Several boards will be required, by persons who are making collections, as some of the insects take a considerable time to dry, so that they may be fit for introducing into a cabinet.
The boards should be kept in a frame made for the purpose. It should consist of a top, bottom, and two sides; the back and front should have the frames of doors attached by small hinges, and their centers covered with fine gauze, for the free passage of air; the sides should have small pieces of wood projecting from them, for the boards to rest on; which should be at such a distance from each other that the pins may not be displaced in pushing the boards in or drawing them out. The frame should be placed in a dry, airy situation.
Braces. These are merely small pieces of card, cut in the form exhibited, Fig. 36, attached to the butterfly and other insects; and also at Fig. 39. They are pinned down on the insects, to keep their wings, etc., in a proper state, till they acquire a set.
SETTING AND PRESERVING INSECTS.
Of the orders Coleoptera, Orthoptera, and Hemiptera. These are easily preserved.
They are killed by immersing in scalding water, and then laid upon blossom or blotting paper, for the purpose of absorbing as much of the moisture as possible; or they may be placed in a tin box, with a little camphor in it, near the fire, which soon kills them. This is, besides, of considerable effect in their preservation.
Insects of the genera Gryllus (Cricket), Locusta (Locusts), etc., have tender bodies, and are sure to shrivel in drying. The intestines should therefore be extracted, while they are yet moist, and skin filled with cotton, as directed with some of the spiders.