Butterflies and Moths (British)

by William S. Furneaux

Fig. 63.—Another Method of Setting Butterflies and Moths.

As before mentioned, insects should be set soon after they are dead, while the parts are still soft and supple. But where this cannot be done, and the specimens have become stiff, brittle, and rigid, they must be 'relaxed' before any attempt is made at setting them out.

This process of relaxing consists in placing the specimens in a very moist atmosphere for a few days. There are several simple ways of doing this, many of which will readily suggest themselves to the reader. Your collecting box, if a zinc one, may also be used as a relaxer. Pin your stiff insects in it, after well moistening the cork, and simply shut them up for a day or two. Any metal box will serve the same purpose providing you put into it a piece of sheet cork on which to fix the insects, and this cork may rest on a bed of moist sand.

Another plan is to float the pinned specimens on corks in a shallow vessel of water, and cover them over with a bell glass.

Insects that are being relaxed should be examined from time to time, and the degree of flexibility acquired tested by a gentle

pressure of the setting needle or by blowing on them. If not sufficiently supple, give another day in the damp cell, but never allow them to be forgotten till they are covered with mildew.

The time occupied in thoroughly drying butterflies and moths will vary considerably according to their sizes and the condition of the atmosphere. In hot and dry summer weather four or five days will prove quite sufficient for the very small and thin-bodied species. From one to two weeks, however, may be looked upon as the average period; but the large and thick-bodied moths may require more than this.

Perhaps the best test of their condition is the gentle pressing of the setting needle against the abdomen—the last part of the body to become dry and stiff. If the abdomen seems quite firm and rigid, you are pretty safe in removing the specimen from the board; but if it bends at all under a slight pressure of the needle let it remain for a day or two longer.