t follows is a little more delicate, although very easy. After
being removed from the carbolated glycerine, the spiders are placed
upon several folds of white filtering paper, and are changed from time
to time until the greatest part of the liquid has been absorbed. An
insect pin is then passed through the cephalothorax of each individual
and is inserted in the support upon which the final desiccation is to
take place. This support consists of a piece of sheet cork tacked or
glued at the edges to a piece of wood at least one inch in thickness.
Upon the cork are placed four or five folds of filtering paper, so
that the ventral surface of the pinned spider is in contact with this
absorbing surface. For the rest, the legs, palpi, spinnerets, etc.,
are spread out by means of fine pins, precisely as would be done in
the case of coleoptera.

[Illustration: SETTING BOARD FOR SPIDERS.

A. Absorbent papers. B. Sheet cork. C. Wooden support.]

The setting board is put for two or three months in a very dry place
under cover from dust.

The spiders thus treated will scarcely have changed in appearance, the
abdomen of the largest Epeiras will have preserved its form, the hairs
will in nowise have become agglutinated, and a person would never
suspect that glycerine had performed the role.

The forms with a large abdomen require a special precaution; it is
necessary to pass the mounting pin through a piece of thin cardboard
or of gelatine prolonged behind under the abdomen, because the latter
is heavy, and the pedicel that connects it with the cephalothorax
easily breaks.

The specimens are mounted in boxes lined with cork, just as insects
are.

As there is nothing simpler than to have in one's laboratory three
bottles, two of them containing alcohol and the other containing
carbolated glycerine, and as it is easy to make setting boards capable
of holding from twenty to thirty individuals at once, it will be seen
that, with a little practice, the method is scarcely any more
complicated than the one daily employed for coleoptera and orthoptera,
which latter, too, must pass through alcohol, and be pinned, spread
out, and dried. There are but two additional elements, carbolated
glycerine and absorbent paper. I do not estimate the time necessary
for desiccation as being very long, since the zoologist can occupy
himself with other subjects while the specimens are drying. Let us add
that the process renders the preservation indefin