[a]Fig. 64.]—Drying-oven: a, sliding door; b, lid; c, body of oven with glass sides; d, opening for inserting inflating-tube; e, copper bottom; f, spirit-lamp; g, base (Riley).
"When the skins have been inflated they may be mounted readily by being placed upon wires wrapped with green silk, or upon annealed aluminium wire. The wires are bent and twisted together for a short distance and then made to diverge. The diverging ends are pressed together, a little shellac is placed upon their tips, and they are then inserted into the opening at the anal extremity of the larval skin. Upon the release of pressure they spread apart, and after the shellac has dried the skin is firmly held by them. They may then be attached to pins by simply twisting the free end of the wire about the pin, or they may be placed upon artificial imitations of the leaves and twigs of their appropriate food-plants."
THE PRESERVATION AND ARRANGEMENT OF COLLECTIONS
The secret of preserving collections of lepidoptera in beautiful condition is to exclude light, moisture, and insect pests. Light ultimately bleaches many species, moisture leads to mould and mildew, and insect pests devour the specimens. The main thing is therefore to have the receptacles in which the specimens are placed dark and as nearly as possible hermetically sealed and kept in a dry place. In order to accomplish this, various devices have been resorted to.
[a]Fig. 65.]—Detail drawing of front of box, made to resemble a book: s, s, sides, made of two pieces of wood glued together across the grain; t, tongue; g, groove; c, cork; p, paper covering the cork.
[a]Fig. 66.]—Detail drawing of front of box: t, top; b, bottom; e, side; f, strip, nailed around inside as at n; c, cork; p, paper lining.
Boxes.—Boxes for the preservation of specimens are made with a tongue on the edges of the bottom fitting into a groove upon the lid, or they may be made with inside pieces fastened around the inner edge of the bottom and projecting so as to catch the lid. The accompanying outlines show the method of joining different forms of boxes (Figs. 65-67). The bottom of the box should be lined with some substance which will enable the specimens to be pinned into it securely. For this purpose sheet-cork about a quarter of an inch thick is to be preferred to all other substances. Ground cork pressed into layers and covered with white paper is manufactured for the purpose of lining boxes. Turf compressed into sheets about half an inch thick and covered with paper is used by many European collectors. Sheets of aloe-pith or of the wood of the yucca, half an inch thick, are used, and the pith of corn-stalks (Indian corn or maize) may also be employed, laid into the box and glued neatly to the bottom. The corn-pith should be cut into pieces about half an inch square and joined together neatly, covering it with thin white paper after the surface has been made quite even and true. Cork is, however, the best material, for, though more expensive than the other things named, it has greater power to hold the pins, and unless these are securely fixed and held in place great damage is sure to result. A loose specimen in a box will work incalculable damage. Boxes should be made of light, thoroughly seasoned wood, and should be very tight. They are sometimes made so that specimens may be pinned both upon the top and the bottom, but this is not to be commended. The depth of the box should be sufficient to admit of the use of the longest insect-pin in use, and a depth between top and bottom of two and a quarter inches is therefore sufficient. Boxes are sometimes made with backs in imitation of books, and a collection arranged in such boxes presents an attractive external appearance. A very good box is made for the United States Department of Agriculture and for the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh (Fig. 68). This box is thirteen inches long, nine inches wide, and three inches thick (external measurement). The depth between the bottom and the lid on the inside is two and one eighth inches. The ends and sides are dovetailed; the top and bottom are each made of two pieces of light stuff, about one eighth of an inch thick, glued together in such a way that the grain of the two pieces crosses at right angles, and all cracking and warping are thus prevented. The lids are secured to the bottoms by brass hooks fitting into eyelets. Such boxes provided with cork do not cost more than fifty-five cents apiece when bought in quantities. Boxes may be made of stout pasteboard about one eighth or three sixteenths of an inch thick, with a rabbet-tongue on the inside. Such boxes are much used in France and England, and when well and substantially made are most excellent. They may be obtained for about thirty-five cents apiece lined with compressed cork.
