_Mounting Butterflies._--When the collector has time enough at his disposal he should at once mount his specimens as they are intended to be displayed in the collection. We shall now proceed to explain the manner in which this is most advantageously accomplished. The insect should first of all be pinned. The pin should be thrust perpendicularly through the thorax, midway between the wings, and at a considerable elevation upon the pin. It should then be placed upon the setting-board or setting-block. Setting-boards or setting-blocks are pieces of wood having a groove on the upper surface of sufficient depth to accommodate the body of the insect and to permit the wings to be brought to the level of the upper surface of the board (Fig. 53). They should also be provided either with a cleft or a hole which will permit the pin to be thrust down below the body of the insect for a considerable distance. As a rule, the wings of all specimens should be mounted at a uniform elevation of about seven eighths of an inch above the point of the pin. This is known as the "continental method" of mounting, and is infinitely preferable to the old-fashioned "English method," in which the insect was pinned low down upon the pin, so that its wings touched the surface of the box. [Illustration FIG. 53.--Setting-board designed by the author. The wings of the insect are held in place by strips of tracing-muslin, such as is used by engineers. The grooves at the side serve to hold the board in place in the drying-box. (See Fig. 59.)] [Illustration FIG. 54.--Setting-block: _A_, holes to enable the pin to reach to the cork; _C_, cork, filling groove on the bottom of the block; _B_, slit to hold thread.] [Illustration FIG. 55.--Setting-block with butterfly expanded upon it.]