In order to preserve collections of lepidoptera in beautiful condition, light, moisture, and insect pests must be excluded. Light bleaches many species, especially those which are red, brown, or green in color. Moisture produces mold and mildew. Insect pests such as mites, Anthrenus, and Dermestes, the two latter being species of beetles, devour specimens. The receptacles containing collections should therefore be furnished with covers excluding the light, kept in a dry place, and be so tight that insect pests will not enter. However, as an additional precaution, it is well to place in every box or drawer moth balls or lumps of camphor, secured so that they cannot roll about. These tend to deter predaceous insects from entering the receptacles. If by any chance they have entered, neither the naphthaline nor the camphor in some cases will prevent their ravages. In the great collections which are under the care of the writer it is a rule from time to time to go over all the cases and put into every receptacle a small quantity of carbon bisulphide. The fumes of carbon bisulphide kill all grubs and matured insects which may have hidden themselves in the cases, and it is believed that it also tends to destroy the life in eggs which may have been laid in the boxes. Great care should be used, however, in employing carbon bisulphide, as the fumes mingled with the oxygen of the atmosphere form an explosive compound. The work should never be done where there is danger of ignition from an open fire or light. Boxes for the preservation of insect collections are made by many firms, and prices for such receptacles vary according to their size and the materials employed in their construction. All receptacles, however, should be lined at the bottom with cork or some other soft material into which the pins sustaining the insects can be put. We employ in the Carnegie Museum a composition cork covered with white paper, which is made in sheets of varying sizes, according to requirement, by the Armstrong Cork Manufacturing Company of Pittsburgh, Pa., the largest cork-manufacturing establishment in the world. This is the most satisfactory material which is made.
Large collections are advantageously preserved in cabinets, the drawers of which are covered with glass through which the insects may be inspected without handling them. Here again, for the details of the construction of boxes, trays, and cabinets, the reader is referred to “The Butterfly Book,” which may be found in every public library, and is in the hands of multitudes of individuals.
In arranging specimens the scientific order should be followed. The species belonging to a given genus should be placed together. The little labels attached to the pins should give both the generic and the specific name, the locality where the specimen was taken, and the sex, if known. For the purpose of designating the sex naturalists employ what are known as “sex marks,” the male being indicated by the sign of Mars, ♂, while the female is indicated by the sign of Venus, ♀. The inscription Papilio philenor, ♀, means that the specimen is a male, and the inscription Papilio philenor, ♀, means that it is a female of the same species.
The classification of the genera and species should be subordinated further to the classification into families. There are five families of butterflies represented in the United States and Canada. They are the following:
- 1. The Nymphalidæ, or “Brush-footed Butterflies.”
- 2. The Erycinidæ, or “Metal-marks.”
- 3. The Lycænidæ, or “Blues,” “Coppers,” and “Hair-streaks.”
- 4. The Papilionidæ, or the “Swallowtails” and their allies.
- 5. The Hesperiidæ, or the “Skippers.”
In every well-arranged collection of butterflies certain drawers or boxes should be set apart for the reception of the insects belonging to these families, and they should be placed under their proper genera, according to their species. Nothing is more beautiful or interesting to those who have a love of nature than a collection of butterflies thus classified and displayed.
In recent years an ingenious friend of mine has devised a system of mounting butterflies under glass in cases made of a shell of plaster of paris, which he backs with cardboard and seals around the edges with gummed paper. Latterly he has taken to mounting them between pieces of glass which he secures in the same way. Specimens thus preserved keep well, may be handled readily without fear of injury to them, and in the glass cases both sides of their wings may be examined. A collection of butterflies mounted in this way may be stored in shallow trays and placed in scientific order. The process of mounting in this fashion is, however, somewhat laborious and expensive, and is not generally adopted by scientific men, who wish to be free to examine their specimens under the magnifying glass, occasionally touching the wings with benzine to disclose the facts of neuration, and to minutely investigate the feet and other parts of the body, which, when sealed up in the way I have described, are not easily accessible.
Having thus briefly outlined the principal facts as to the nature of butterflies in general, and the best methods of collecting and preserving them, we now pass on to the description of the commoner species which are found on the continent of North America, north of Mexico and the Straits of Florida.
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Lepidoptera (Scale-winged Insects)
Suborder Rhopalocera (Butterflies)
Family Nymphalidæ (The Brush-footed Butterflies)