Butterflies and Moths (British)

by William S. Furneaux

If your cabinet is quite ready for the reception of new-comers, the insects may be put in their proper places immediately after their removal from the setting boards; but if not, they may be pinned temporarily in a 'store box' till the time comes when you have proper accommodation provided. The full consideration of these matters will be dealt with in another chapter.

It is possible that the setting of some of your specimens will not exactly please you. If such is the case, put them in a relaxing box for a day or two, and then reset them more to your fancy.

We have now to deal with a matter that applies more particularly to moths, especially the very large and thick-bodied species. The abdomens of these become more or less contracted and shrivelled on drying, sometimes to such an extent as to look most unsightly.

There is a remedy for this, and the time and patience required in working it out will be well repaid by the superior results obtained.

While the abdomen is still in a soft condition, make a slit throughout its length with a very sharp knife or a sharp-pointed pair of scissors. This slit should be made down the centre of the under surface, or, if the insect is to be placed in the cabinet with the under side exposed, down the middle line of the back. Then remove all the contents of the abdomen, scraping them out with a piece of hooked wire, or removing them with a fine pair of forceps, and leaving the skin as clean as possible both within and without.

Now introduce a packing of cotton wool, just sufficient in quantity to maintain the natural form of the body as the specimen dries.

There is another good method of stuffing moths that possesses a decided advantage over the one just described, since it leaves the specimen in such a perfect condition that it shows no appearance of having been stuffed when viewed from either side. This consists in snipping off the abdomen at the waist, clearing out the contents with a hooked wire, lightly stuffing it with cotton wool pushed in at the waist, and then setting it aside to dry, while the other part of the insect is undergoing the same process on the setting board. When both parts of the moth are thoroughly dry, the stuffed abdomen is easily fixed in its place with a little coaguline; and this, if neatly done, will not show the slightest sign of the treatment to which the insect has been submitted.

Even after your insects are finally housed in the cabinet, they are subject to two other dangers, both of which are more destructive to moths than to butterflies. One is technically known as 'grease,' and the other is the invasion of certain museum pests that feed on the specimens, causing them to fall to pieces.

Examine the moths that have been for a time in the cabinet, and some are sure to exhibit an oily or greasy appearance, the hairs of the abdomen, and perhaps also of the thorax, being clogged together just as if the specimen had been dipped in oil, the same miserable condition perhaps being shared also by parts of the wings.

This is due to the gradual oozing out of the fatty matter that is always present to a greater or less extent in the bodies of the insects, and which must necessarily show itself more sparingly in specimens that have been carefully stuffed.