Directions for Collecting and Preserving Insects

by Charles V. Riley

Fig. 105.—Spreading board for Lepidoptera.

Fig. 106.—Needle
for spreading
insects.

[Directions for Spreading Insects.]—“For the proper spreading of insects with broad and flattened wings, such as butterflies and moths, a spreading board or stretcher is necessary. One that is simple and answers every purpose is shown at [Fig. 105]. It may be made of two pieces of thin whitewood or pine board, fastened together by braces at the ends, but left wide enough apart to admit the bodies of the insects to be spread; strips of cork or pith, in which to fasten the pins, may then be tacked or glued below so as to cover the intervening space. The braces must be deep enough to prevent the pins from touching anything the stretcher may be laid on, and by attaching a ring or loop to one of them the stretcher may be hung against a wall, out of the way. For ordinary-sized specimens I use boards 2 feet long, 3 inches wide, and ⅓ inch thick, with three braces (one in the middle and one at each end) 1½ inches deep at the ends, but narrowing from each end to 1¹⁄₆ inches at the middle. This slight rising from the middle is to counteract the tendency of the wings, however well dried, to drop a little after the insect is placed in the cabinet. The wings are held in position by means of strips of paper ([Fig. 105]) until dry. For stretching the wings and for many other purposes, a handled needle will be found useful. Split off, with the grain, a piece of pine wood 3 or 4 inches long; hold it in the right hand; take a medium-sized needle in the left hand; hold it upright with the point touching a walnut table, or other hard-grained wood, and bring a steady pressure to bear on the pine. The head of the needle will sink to any required distance into the pine, which may then be whittled off, and you have just the thing you want ([Fig. 106]). To obtain uniformity in the position of the wings, a good rule is to have the inner margins of the front wings as nearly as possible on a straight line. When the specimens are thoroughly stiff and dry, they should be taken from the stretcher and kept for several weeks in the drying box before being permanently placed in the cabinet. The drying box is simply a box of any required dimensions, containing a series of shelves on which to pin the specimens, and without a solid back or front. The back is covered on the inside with fine gauze and on the outside with coarser wire, and the door in front consists of a close-fitting frame of the same material, the object being to allow free passage of air, but at the same time to keep out dust and prevent the gnawings of mice and other animals. The shelves should be not less than 2 inches deep, and if made in the form of a quadrangular frame, braced with two cross-pieces on which to tack sheet cork, they will serve for the double purpose of drying spread specimens and for the spreading of others, as there are many insects with long legs which are more conveniently spread on such a board, by means of triangular pieces of stiff cardboard braces or ‘saddles,’ than on the stretcher already described. Two of these braces are fixed on the setting board, by means of stout pins, at sufficient distances apart to receive the body between them. The wings are then spread upon them and kept in place until dry by means of additional braces. In the case of bees, wasps, etc., the pin may be thrust well into the cork or pith so that the wings may be arranged in the proper position and braced and supported by strips of stout cardboard. This method is especially recommended in the case of the Fossorial wasps, the legs of which, if mounted in an ordinary spreading board, can not be properly arranged.

In spreading Lepidoptera I have used, in the place of a number of paper strips pinned across the wings, blocks of glass of various sizes to hold the wings in position. My method of mounting, with a large amount of material on hand to be attended to, consists in pinning a row on the spreading-board and fixing the wings in position with spreading needles, fastening them with a single narrow strip of paper placed next the body. The entire spreading-board is filled with specimens in this way, a single long strip of paper on either side answering to keep the wings of all the specimens in position. Then, instead of pinning additional strips to hold the wings flat and securely in position, the pieces of glass referred to are used, placing them on the wings of the insect. With the use of glass the spreading-board must always be kept in a horizontal position and must never be disturbed. The advantage of the glass is that the wings can be seen through it and more truly adjusted.

Spreading-boards may be made as described above, or it may be of advantage, when a good deal of work is to be done, to adopt a somewhat different method. Five or six spreading-boards may be made together, forming a sort of shelf. A number of these shelves may be constructed and the whole combined in a case with a screen cover to exclude insects. The individual shelves may be arranged with grooves to slide on tongues in the side of the case. A screen-covered case for spreading-boards is always desirable, as the insects are otherwise very liable to be eaten by roaches or other insects. A spreading-case of the form described is shown at [Fig. 107].