tle too
much than be too nice in clearing all away; then, with a blowpipe,
distend the empty abdomen; it will very soon become firm, and retain
its original form, but until it is so the blowing must be frequently
repeated."

A correspondent to Science Gossip, page 21, 1868, says: "I found the
best way to preserve spiders was to suspend them by a loop round their
waist in a solution of glycerine 2/3, water 1/3. The solution may want
changing once or twice at first, after that it will keep unchanged for
years."

Fig. 36--Blow-pipe for inflating larvae

PRESERVING CATERPILLARS.--The larvae of moths and butterflies may be
preserved by pressing out the contents of their bodies, and by working
from the head to the tail in a gentle manner, and assisting the
removal of the mass by a careful dragging with a crochet needle. When
empty, a little corrosive sublimate solution may be injected with a
metal or glass blow-pipe, and the empty skin then distended by blowing
into it through a very fine blowpipe, made by drawing out in a clear
flame a small glass tube until it is attenuated to a fine point. This
being inserted in the orifice at the last segment of the caterpillar,
is kept in place by being tied round with a piece of darning cotton,
or, better still, by a contrivance shown in Fig. 36 (the invention of
Mr. Auld, in Science Gossip for 1872). A A are pieces of watch spring
tied on the thick part of the blowpipe, and holding the caterpillar by
pressure on the last segments when the point B is inserted.

Mr. Auld, I see by his article, used a spirit lamp under a glass jar
to form a drying chamber while blowing; but I have myself found a "box
iron" a most convenient arrangement. The inner iron, being heated in
the fire, is placed in the chamber or "box," which it thoroughly
heats; then removed, and the larvae introduced and blown out in the
hot air, but not so full as to unnaturally distend the segments.

A certain loss of colour inevitably takes place in preserved larvae,
which in the larger ones may be restored by colouring inside them with
powder colours mixed in turps. Coloured wax is sometimes injected, and
makes the skin very firm, but it is a delicate operation, requiring
great skill in application. When finished, they may be "mounted" on
green silk-covered wire, or, more naturally, on nicely modelled leaves
of their various food-plants, by gum attached to their claspers.

It is often necessary to plunge the more del