In the case of insects tenacious of life, such as some moths, particularly females which have not deposited their eggs, piercing their breast with a pin dipt in nitric acid will instantly kill them. After killing dragon-flies the intestines must be carefully removed, otherwise the colours will all become black.

To fit insects for a cabinet, they require to be set, as it is termed; that is, all their parts must be placed in the manner best fitted to display them. For this purpose each is pierced, when dead, with an insect

Setting-needles and brush; with the method of setting insects. a, Swallow-tailed butterfly (Papilio machaon); b, Wasp; c, Beetle.

pin, a finé slender sort, manufactured on purpose*. Beetles ought to have the pins passed through the shoulder of the right wing-case, and butterflies and other insects through the corslet, on a right line with the head, and a little back from it. While the insect is fresh and flexible, the legs and wings are to be stretched out with a setting-needle, or a large pin bent at the point and fixed into a wooden handle, then stuck upon a board covered with cork and paper, and kept in their proper position by means of pins and braces till they become dry and stiff.

The

braces are made with slips of fine card, or thick hotpressed paper, stuck through at one end with a strong pin. When insects have become stiff before being set, they may be rendered flexible again by covering them over for several hours with a damp cloth, which, however, must not be permitted to touch them. A camel-hair pencil is used for brushing off dust. The mode of setting will be best understood

from the figures.

When insects are very small, as piercing them with a pin would destroy them, it is usual to gum them on a slip of card or cut wafer, and to arrange this in the cabinet. Minute beetles and flies may thus be preserved, as is shown in the figures.

Method of mounting small insects.

The setting-board ought to be kept where there is a *To be had of Hales, Great Dover-street, Southwark; and

of Durnford and Co., Gracechurch-street, London.

free ventilation of air till the set insects are thoroughly dry; but it is necessary that it be also out of the reach of spiders; for we have in several instances had our specimens, while drying, mutilated and destroyed by these prowlers. The most convenient apparatus is an upright box, with grooves, into which the setting-boards may slide, with the door and the side of the box opposite to it covered with gauze.

No other preservative is wanted, after the insects are set and dried, except to keep them from damp, to put a little camphor in the cabinet-drawers to prevent mites, and to take care to prevent them from being destroyed by the larvae of some small moths and beetles, which the camphor will not do, nor anything else with which we are acquainted. We had once a whole drawer of insects destroyed by mice. Glazing the drawers of a cabinet, and occasional careful inspection, will be indispensable to keep a collection in good condition.

The cabinet may consist of more or fewer drawers, according to the extent of a collection. The most convenient dimensions of the drawers are from a foot to eighteen inches square, and two inches deep; and the best wood is mahogany, cedar, or wainscot,

deal being apt to split or warp. The doors ought to have velvet glued round the edges, to keep out dust and small insects. The bottoms of the drawers are lined with sheet cork, about a sixth of an inch in thickness, made uniformly smooth by filing, and having white paper pasted over it.

Where a cabinet has not been procured, collectors make use of store boxes, made on the principle of a backgammon board, each leaf being about two inches deep, and lined with cork and paper. These are convenient, also, for travellers sending home insects from a distance.

The specimens are best arranged in columns from top to bottom of the drawers, with the names attached to each. We are unwilling, amidst the great variety of systems, to recommend any particular one as the best; and prefer leaving our readers to choose for themselves, by giving the outlines of the principal classifications which have been proposed from the earliest times till the present day.

CHAPTER XV.

SYSTEMATIC ARRANGEMENTS OF INSECTS.

WHEN We consider that the number of known species of British insects alone amounts to more than ten thousand, being about six times more than the species of our plants-that is, six species of insects, on an average, to each species of plant-it will be obvious that, in a collection of specimens, some systematic order of arrangement will be requisite ; though, for purposes of out-door study of manners and economy, nice distinctions are less indispensable, as appears from the beautiful and successful researches of Réaumur, Gould, Lyonnet, Bonnet, the Hubers, and other distinguished inquirers, who paid little or no attention to the minutiae of classification. In consequence, however, of a course diametrically opposite having been pursued by other naturalists of celebrity, we consider it our duty to warn our readers against the error of considering arrangement the sole end and aim of study; whereas the correct view of the matter, as we understand it, is not to neglect or discard system, as was done by Réaumur and Bonnet, but to make it subservient to such details of causes, motives, and effects, as we have endeavoured to exemplify. In every page of these volumes we have accordingly kept systematic distinctions closely, though subordinately, in view. We shall now give a brief sketch of several classifications of insects, invented by celebrated writers, from the earliest times,