It is very desirable in transmitting insects from the field of exploration, or from one entomologist to another, for information, exchange, or other purpose, that they be properly secured and packed. Pinned and mounted specimens should be firmly fixed in a cigar box, or a special box for mailing, and this should be carefully but not too tightly wrapped with cotton or other loose packing material to a depth of perhaps an inch, and the whole then inclosed in stiff wrapping paper. It is preferable, however, to inclose the box containing the specimens in a larger box, filling the intervening space, not too firmly, with cotton or other packing material. Where specimens are to be sent to a considerable distance it is advisable also to line the box in which they are placed with cotton, which serves to catch and hold any specimens which may become loose in transit. In the case of alcoholic specimens each vial should be wrapped separately in cotton and placed in a strong wooden or tin box. Special mailing boxes for alcoholic specimens have been devised, and a very convenient form is herewith figured. It is an ordinary tube of wood, with a metal screw top, and the interior lined with rough cork. These tubes are made in various sizes to accommodate vials of different dimensions. [Illustration: FIG. 126.--Wooden-tube mailing-box: _a_, tube; _b_, cover (original.)] In mailing living specimens the essential thing is a strong box, preferably tin, made as nearly air-tight as possible. I have found it very convenient on long trips to carry with me a number of tin boxes in the flat (Fig. 127), combined in convenient packages, ready to be bent and improvised in the field. For this purpose get any tinsmith to make out of good tin a number of pieces cut of the requisite dimensions both for the bottoms and the covers, carefully cutting the corners to permit the proper bending of the sides. These improvised boxes will prove useful for keeping living larvae with their food-plants, especially if tied up in stout brown paper to prevent any exit from the unsoldered angles. They will also answer admirably for mailing or otherwise sending specimens to their ultimate destination. In the case of larvae a quantity of the food-plant should always be inclosed in the box. [Illustration: FIG. 127.--Tin mailing-box in the flat: _a_, box; _b_, cover (original).]