The Butterfly Book: A Popular Guide to a Knowledge of the Butterflies of North AmericaHolland, W. J. (William Jacob)
Science
The Butterfly Book: A Popular Guide to a Knowledge of the Butterflies of North America
Holland, W. J. (William Jacob)
Butterflies -- North America
_Arrangement of Specimens._--Specimens are best arranged in rows. The
males should be pinned in first in the series, after them the females.
Varieties should follow the species. After these should be placed any
aberrations or monstrosities which the collector may possess. The name
of the genus should precede all the species contained in the collection,
and after each species the specific name should be placed =Fig. 71= shows
the manner of arrangement.
[Illustration FIG. 71.--Manner of arranging specimens in cabinet.]
_Insect Pests._--In order to preserve collections, great care must be
taken to exclude the various forms of insect pests, which are likely,
unless destroyed and kept from attacking the specimens, to ruin them
utterly in comparatively a short time. The pests which are most to be
feared are beetles belonging to the genera _Dermestes_ and _Anthrenus_.
In addition to these beetles, which commit their ravages in the larval
stage, moths and mites prey upon collections. Moths are very
infrequently, however, found in collections of insects, and in a long
experience the writer has known only one or two instances in which any
damage was inflicted upon specimens by the larvæ of moths. Mites are
much more to be dreaded.
[Illustration FIG. 72.--Naphthaline cone.]
In order to prevent the ravages of insects, all specimens, before
putting them away into the boxes or drawers of the cabinet in which they
are to be preserved, should be placed in a tight box in which
chloroform, or, better, carbon bisulphide, in a small pan is put, and
they should be left here for at least twenty-four hours, until it is
certain that all life is extinct. Then they should be transferred to the
tight boxes or drawers in which they are to be kept. The presence of
insect pests in a collection is generally first indicated by fine dust
under the specimen, this dust being the excrement of the larva which is
committing depredations upon the specimen. In case the presence of the
larva is detected, a liberal dose of chloroform should at once be
administered to the box or tray in which the specimen is contained. The
specimen itself ought to be removed, and may be dipped into benzine.
Naphthaline crystals or camphor is generally employed to keep out insect
pests from boxes. They are very useful to deter the entrance of pests,
but when they have once been introduced into a collection neither
naphthaline nor camphor will kill them. Naphthaline is prepared in the
form of cones attached to a pin, and these cones may be placed in one
corner of the box. They are made by Blake & Co. of Philadelphia, and are
in vogue among entomologists. However, a good substitute for the cones
may very easily be made by taking the ordinary moth-balls which are sold
everywhere. By heating a pin red-hot in the flame of an alcohol-lamp it
may be thrust into the moth-ball; as it enters it melts the naphthaline,
which immediately afterward cools and holds the pin securely fixed in
the moth-ball.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account