In taking insects off the sets, the braces or strips should be removed from the wings, and the pins from the horns, with care, as a good deal of damage can be done in the performance of this operation, simple as it seems to be. A little twist of a brace and away goes a patch of scales, a side slip of a pin and off comes a horn.
Pending the arrival of that twelve or twenty drawer cabinet, the beginner will probably be content to arrange his specimens in boxes. A handy sized box is one measuring 14 inches by 10 when closed, and it should have a cell for naphthaline.
Before putting the specimens away into boxes or drawers they should be labelled with the date of capture, the locality, the name of the captor, and any other detail of interest in connection with it. All these particulars may be written on small squares of paper and put on the pins under the specimens.
Cabinets or boxes containing insects should always stand where they are free from damp, otherwise mould may make its appearance on the specimens. Mouldy insects may be cleaned, but they never look nice afterwards; so it will be well to bear in mind that prevention is better than cure. Where drawers and boxes are not properly attended to in the matter of naphthaline, mites are apt to enter and cause injury to the specimens. If these pests should effect a lodgment, a little benzine poured on the bottom of box or drawer will quickly kill them. The benzine, if pure, will not make the least stain, and of course the drawer or box must be closed directly the benzine is put in. Do this only in the daytime.
Rearing butterflies from the egg is much practised, and is a very excellent way. One not only obtains specimens in fine condition, but gains knowledge of the early stages at the same time. The eggs of most of the Whites, the Orange-tip, the Brimstone, and some others are not difficult to obtain, but searching the food-plants for the eggs of many of the butterflies is tiresome work, and not altogether remunerative. Females may be watched when engaged in egg-laying, and having marked the spot, step in when she has left and rob the "nest." The best plan is to capture a few females and enclose them in roomy, wide-mouthed bottles, or a gauze cage, putting in with them a sprig or two of the food-plant placed in a holder containing water. The mouth of the bottle should be covered with gauze or leno, and a bit of moistened sugar put on the top outside. Either bottle or cage must be stood in the sunshine, but it must be remembered that the butterflies require plenty of air as well as sunshine, and that they can have too much of the latter.
[PART II.]
DESCRIPTIONS OF SPECIES.
The Swallow-tail (Papilio machaon).
The Swallow-tail butterfly is the only British member of the extensive and universally distributed sub-family Papilioninæ, which includes some of the largest as well as the most handsome kinds of butterfly. Our species has yellow wings ornamented with black, blue, and red, and is an exceedingly attractive insect. The black markings are chiefly a large patch at the base of the fore wings, this is powdered with yellow scales; a band, also powdered with yellow, runs along the outer or hind portion of all the wings. There are also three black spots on the front or costal margin, and the veins are black. The bands vary in width, and that on the hind wings is usually clouded more or less with blue. At the lower angle of the hind wings there is a somewhat round patch of red, and occasionally there are splashes of red on the yellow crescents beyond the band. The male and female are shown on Plate[ 2.]