_Directions for Spreading Insects._--"For the proper spreading of insects with broad and flattened wings, such as butterflies and moths, a spreading board or stretcher is necessary. One that is simple and answers every purpose is shown at Fig. 105. It may be made of two pieces of thin whitewood or pine board, fastened together by braces at the ends, but left wide enough apart to admit the bodies of the insects to be spread; strips of cork or pith, in which to fasten the pins, may then be tacked or glued below so as to cover the intervening space. The braces must be deep enough to prevent the pins from touching anything the stretcher may be laid on, and by attaching a ring or loop to one of them the stretcher may be hung against a wall, out of the way. For ordinary-sized specimens I use boards 2 feet long, 3 inches wide, and 1/3 inch thick, with three braces (one in the middle and one at each end) 11/2 inches deep at the ends, but narrowing from each end to 1 1/6 inches at the middle. This slight rising from the middle is to counteract the tendency of the wings, however well dried, to drop a little after the insect is placed in the cabinet. The wings are held in position by means of strips of paper (Fig. 105) until dry. For stretching the wings and for many other purposes, a handled needle will be found useful. Split off, with the grain, a piece of pine wood 3 or 4 inches long; hold it in the right hand; take a medium-sized needle in the left hand; hold it upright with the point touching a walnut table, or other hard-grained wood, and bring a steady pressure to bear on the pine. The head of the needle will sink to any required distance into the pine, which may then be whittled off, and you have just the thing you want (Fig. 106). To obtain uniformity in the position of the wings, a good rule is to have the inner margins of the front wings as nearly as possible on a straight line. When the specimens are thoroughly stiff and dry, they should be taken from the stretcher and kept for several weeks in the drying box before being permanently placed in the cabinet. The drying box is simply a box of any required dimensions, containing a series of shelves on which to pin the specimens, and without a solid back or front. The back is covered on the inside with fine gauze and on the outside with coarser wire, and the door in front consists of a close-fitting frame of the same material, the object being to allow free passage of air, but at the same time to keep out dust and prevent the gnawings of mice and other animals. The shelves should be not less than 2 inches deep, and if made in the form of a quadrangular frame, braced with two cross-pieces on which to tack sheet cork, they will serve for the double purpose of drying spread specimens and for the spreading of others, as there are many insects with long legs which are more conveniently spread on such a board, by means of triangular pieces of