S-1141001_COMPLETO.pdf

APHORISMATA ENTOMOLOGICA. 11
the subject of entomological pins. "Item,"—The pins used for the card
braces should be either the long lace ones, which hold tight in the
cork, and are very sharp pointed, or the large common ones, which I
find even still better.
"Au revoir." The third, the "grand climacteric," is to be essayed as
follows:—If you can turn, I mean turn wood, in a lathe, yourself, you
can make the required apparatus for yourself; but, if not, you can
readily have it made for you by any turner: see the plate.
There are different modes of turning these pieces of wood, but the
choice of these you must leave to the turner; suffice it to say, that if
turned in the first instance in an oblong oval shape, each of "these may
be cut into four pieces of the proper sort for the extending woods.
There is also a way of making them without employing a turner at all.
Go into a carpenter's shop, or into your own if you have one, and
plane down flat strips of wood round on each side: this in the various
stages is depicted in the plate. Then, with a "plough" plane, run a
groove along the centre of it, next cut it into suitable lengths, and
finally, with a "spoke-shave," shade it off down to one side—the one to
be next you when setting the insect—cutting off all the edges square,
as presently to be described in the case of the turned pieces of a
similar shape. They must, moreover, in whichever way they are made,
be of different sizes, say two inches long by one and a half wide, three
by two \vide, four by two and a half, and so on.
They may be made of any wood, but common deal is the best, for
several reasons: first, it is the cheapest; secondly, it is the most easily to
be procured; thirdly, it is soft, and will admit of a pin being easily
stuck into it; and fourthly, it is, though perfectly smooth Avhen turned,
rather rough when sawn through, which as presently shewn will have to
be done. The advantage of the last-named particular is, that the threads,
when wound round the insect, have a hold, and do not slip. If the
wood is hard, fine-grained, and smooth, the edges must have little notches
filed or cut into them, all the way round, to hold the threads. So
also as to a pin being easily stuck into it: this has an advantage, or,
it may be, a double advantage; as thus:—If the wood be very soft,
and the pin a strong one, you can extend the insect on the rounded
wood with ordinary card braces, as if on a piece of cork, and the wings
will thus, when dried, preserve the curved appearance so much admired
by English collectors. Also, if threads be used, you will find that un­
less very great care be used to wind the thread round as lightly as
d