Movement of the International Literary Exchanges, between France and North America from January 1845 to May, 1846: With Instructions for Collecting, Preparing, and Forwarding Objects of Natural History Written by The Professors Administrators of The Museum Of Natural History At Paris. And Instructions Relative to Anthropology and Zoology
History
Movement of the International Literary Exchanges, between France and North America from January 1845 to May, 1846: With Instructions for Collecting, Preparing, and Forwarding Objects of Natural History Written by The Professors Administrators of The Museum Of Natural History At Paris. And Instructions Relative to Anthropology and Zoology
Exchange of publications
For the small kinds, it is better not to fix them in this manner, and
to preserve those whose shell is hard enough, the coleopters and the
most part of hemipters, for example, it is sufficient to place them in
little bottles or in flacks full of rolls of paper (or even cotton, if
paper is wanting). This way is even applicable to the great kinds and
should be employed when there is not time to impale with care the
insects that are caught. The small kinds with soft shells should be
preserved in alcohol for drying frequently deforms them to such a
degree that they cannot be recognised. It is, also, in this liquor
that the caterpillars should be preserved, as well as other larvae, and
it would be well to place with them a certain number of dried insects
so that a part might be taken for anatomical researches.
Butterflies are taken by the aid of a gauze net or pocket. The insects
are found chiefly in fields whose flowrs abound and on the leaves of
trees; but they must be sought too in dark places, for, during the
day, the night kinds are here asleep upon walls or the bark of trees.
With a little skill, they can be pierced without seizing them before
hand, and if there is fear of missing them thus, they should be
covered whith the gauze pinews, through which the pin can be passed.
When the air is calm and the night obscure, they can be easily taken
by means of torches, for it is sufficient to place a light in a low
and open place to attract a multitude of phalenes and other nocturnal
insects. But to have handsome lepidopters, it is best to obtain
caterpillars, feed them with the leaves of the plant on which they are
found, and pierce the butterfly as soon as he has undergone his
change, for the specimens caught in their flight are rarely fresh.
For the coleopters, it is not sufficient to beat the bushes and
herbaceous plants, these insects should, also, be sought under the
bark of trees, in the interior of mushrooms, under the stones and even
in the soil: for this, it is well to be provided with a paring-knife,
an instrument which is much like a carpenter's chisel, but which is
slightly curved, and ends in a kind of pointed spatula.
Aquatic insects are taken by the help of a net like that used for
insects of the air, but whose bag should be of canvass instead of
cloth. In fine, to catch the hymenopters, whose sting is often
formidable, it is necessary to have a pincers whose prongs are
disposed like rackets and armed with coarse lace.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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