. Bulletin - United States National Museum. Science. [81] COLLECTING AND PRESERVING INSECTS tion of the larva, and tMs may be entirely or partly closed by a sliding door, a. It will be found of advantage to line the bottom of the box (inside) with a brass screen of very fine mesh, to distribute and equalize the heat. This apparatus can be very easily made by any tinsmith and will answer every purpose. The larvsB of Microlepidop-. tera or young larvae may be dried without expressing the body contents, and will keep, to a great extent, their normal shape and ai^pearance. The method consi
. Bulletin - United States National Museum. Science. [81] COLLECTING AND PRESERVING INSECTS tion of the larva, and tMs may be entirely or partly closed by a sliding door, a. It will be found of advantage to line the bottom of the box (inside) with a brass screen of very fine mesh, to distribute and equalize the heat. This apparatus can be very easily made by any tinsmith and will answer every purpose. The larvsB of Microlepidop-. tera or young larvae may be dried without expressing the body contents, and will keep, to a great extent, their normal shape and ai^pearance. The method consists in iDlacing them on a sand bath, heated by an alcohol lamp. The va- 13or generated by the heat in the larvee inflates them and keeps the skin taut until the juices are entirely evaporated. They may then be glued at once to cardboard and jDinned in the cases. In the mounting of large in- flated larvce I have ado^Dted the plan of supiDorting them on covered copper wire of a size varying with the size of the larva. A pin is first thrust through a square bit of cork and the wire brought tightly about it and wrapped once or twice, comiDress- ing the cork and giving a firm attachment to the pin. The wire is then neatly bent to form a diamond-shaped loop about one-sixth of an inch in length and again twisted loosely to the end—the length of the twisted portion about equalling that of the larva to be mounted. This is then either thrust into the blown skin of the larva through the anal oi^ening, the larva being glued to the wire by the posterior extremity, or the larva is glued to the wire by the abdominal legs and venter, thus rest- ing on the wire as on a twig. This style of mounting is illustrated in PI. I. With a Httle experience the operator will soon be able to inflate the most delicate larvse and also the very hairy forms, as for instance Orgyia leucostigma, without the least injury, so that the natural colors and appearance wiU be preserved. Another very good method, and s
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Keywords: ., bookauthorun, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectscience
