_Lining for Insect Boxes._--The old lining of insect boxes was the ordinary sheet cork of commerce, and if a good quality of cork is procurable it will answer the purpose. A better substance, however, for the lining of insect boxes is the prepared or ground cork, which is now almost exclusively used. It is simply ground cork mixed with a small amount of glue, compressed into sheets and covered with paper. This gives a very homogenous composition, and is much better than the ordinary cork, having a more uniform and neat appearance, and admitting the insertion of the pins more freely. It may be purchased from H. Herpers, 18 Crawford street, Newark, N. J. A less expensive substitute is paper stretched upon a frame. Prof. E. S. Morse has given in the "American Naturalist" (Vol. i, p. 156) a plan which is very neat and useful for lining boxes in a large museum, which are designed to be placed in horizontal show-cases (Fig. 120). "A box is made of the required depth, and a light frame is fitted to its interior. Upon the upper and under surfaces of this frame a sheet of white paper (drawing or log paper answers the purpose) is securely glued. The paper, having been previously damped, in drying contracts and tightens like a drumhead. The frame is then secured about one-fourth of an inch from the bottom of the box, and the pin is forced down through the thicknesses of paper, and if the bottom of the box be of soft pine, the point of the pin may be slightly forced into it. It is thus firmly held at two or three different points, and all lateral movements are prevented. Other advantages are secured by this arrangement besides firmness: when the box needs cleaning or fumigation, the entire collection may be removed by taking out the frame; or camphor, tobacco, or other material can be placed on the bottom of the box, and concealed from sight. The annexed figure represents a transverse section of a portion of the side and bottom of the box with the frame. A A, box; B, frame; P P, upper and under sheets of paper; C, space between lower sheets of paper and bottom of box." [Illustration: FIG. 120.--Paper lining for insect box. (After Morse.)] Other substitutes are the pith of various plants, especially of corn. Palm wood and "inodorous felt" are also used, being cut to fit the bottom of the box.