rflies, see Fig. 48, which shows a common white
butterfly braced on the setting board. To do this your insect must be
truly pinned as before directed, and placed in the centre of the
groove A B (which is also shown in section at B, Fig. 47); four pieces
of thin cardboard, each about 1 in. long, are cut to the shape shown
at C C C C. An ordinary pin is pushed a little way through them at
their bases.

With a fine needle now lift up from underneath the left hand upper
wing of the insect to about the angle shown in Fig. 48; picking up a
brace with the left hand, push the pin in the cork in such a manner
that the brace lightly holds down the wing. Do the same with the
underwing. Repeat with the other side. [Footnote: The braces shown in
Fig. 48 should be a little nearer the tips of the fore wings, or
supplemented by stiff papa pinned across, otherwise the tips are
likely to curl up when drying.]

I have been assuming that the wings of the insect previously lay flat.
If they are folded up above the back they had better be pushed down
with the braces instead of with the needle, and pinned to any position
they will readily fall to, and from that gradually worked up by means
of another brace to the angle required. The fore pair of legs should
be braced to the front, and hind pair of legs, especially of moths,
are to be braced out to fall neatly between the body and the wings.
Sometimes very fine cambric needles are thrust through, just
underneath one of the wing rays, to lift up and keep it in position,
-until the braces can be brought to bear. This ought not to be
resorted to except in extreme cases, or for other than cabinet
specimens.

A correspondent (Mr. G. H. Bryan) writing in Science Gossip for
December, 1883, says:--"The grooved cork, instead of being glued to
one wooden board, is fastened on to the two boards, the groove between
them corresponding exactly with the groove in the cork. These in turn
are held together by three slips of wood, to which they are firmly
nailed. In setting insects, the pin should not be run into the groove
just above the slips. If run into the cork anywhere else, the pin can
be pushed through to any depth required, and, as a rule, the slips are
so high that, when the board is laid down on a table, none of the pins
touch the table."

I some time ago saw, at the house of a well-known naturalist and
traveller, residing near Cirencester, an ingenious arrangement applied
to setting-boards, by