Insect Mounting And Preserving (1961)

millions of years ago nature preserved the first insects by turning them to Stone specimens can be found today by chipping into the rock that imprisons the fossilized animals after countless centuries the true size and form of the ancient insect remains perfectly replaced and preserved as Stone today man is able to preserve insects using a variety of techniques preserved specimens are most important as a fundamental basis for learning about insects insects vary greatly in physical form some are small and active some have very hard bodies others are very soft some are colorful some are delicate others are regular in form and shape preserving each different insect form presents a problem the specimen must be displayed to adequately show the identifying characteristics of the insect some insects can be preserved immediately at the time of collection good examples are the many forms found in and on water these May often be collected by hand they can be preserved by dropping them directly into a vial of alcohol where they are quickly killed and preserved at the same time other forms live within rotting wood under stones in a great variety of places many of these can also be field preserved in alcohol large ler soft bodied insect should not be directly preserved in alcohol additional preparation is necessary the insect is brought alive into the laboratory and placed in boiling water where it dies immediately the boiling water sets the internal tissues and keeps the soft portions in their normal position after 2 to 3 minutes the specimen is removed and the excess water allowed to drain on a piece of absorbent paper it is then placed into a vial of alcohol for permanent preservation notice how lifelike the insect looks for field preservation of winged insects the insect is first netted it can be killed by applying a slight pressure on the thorax while still in the net the specimen can then be removed from the net and preserved in a glazed paper envelope this field method can be temporary or permanent another method is Preservation in containers called triangles which are made by folding rectangular piece of paper this is especially useful for large winged insects the specimen is placed in the triangle and the flap folded over in this condition layers of insects can be kept indefinitely Or stored for later mounting delayed mounting of winged insects calls for a relaxing jar a container with several layers of dampened paper covered with absorbent tissue the now dried insect is placed in the relaxing jar for 48 hours to make it soft and pliable additional equipment needed includes a spreading board a quantity of specially made insect pins and some pieces of transparent paper such as glazed paper when mounting butterflies and moths an insect pin is passed through the thorax of the specimen vertical to its body the pinned insect is placed into the groove between the two halves of the spreading board the wings are drawn into position and held temporarily with pins to keep the wings in this position I transparent paper is placed over the wings and pinned into place freshly killed specimens as well as those from the relaxing jar may be mounted in this way finally the abdomen is properly aligned many specimens can be mounted on a single spreading board the paper and pins hold them in a set position a week later the papers are removed the specimen has now dried rigidly in the pin position resulting in an attractive and valuable permanent addition to the insect collection other smaller forms may be preserved indefinitely by placing them between layers of tissue paper in a can or box collection notes are kept with the specimens but more about that subject just a little later regular forms such as the Katy did are pinned through the thorax it's important to insert the pin in line with the vertical axis of the specimen the insect is then pinned in an upright position to a flat board additional pins are used to set the various parts so they will remain in a lifelike position Beatles are pinned through the right elytron which is the wing covering no further mounting is required for very tiny insects small mentin pins are used which are attached to regular pins by a small piece of cork very tiny delicate insects are mounted on points made of stiff paper cut with a protruding Edge a small spot of glue attaches the specimen to the point double points are used to hold delicate larger forms some very tiny insects such as fleas may be originally preserved in alcohol but for use must be further processed the specimen is put in a solution of potassium hydroxide which is suspended in double boiler position in boiling water the potassium hydroxide dissolves out everything except the external skeleton of the insect it is removed from the potassium hydroxide after 15 to 30 minutes depending on the size of the specimen being prepared and placed into a 75% solution of alcohol the alcohol replaces the potassium hydroxide the specimen is left here up to 1/2 hour and is then removed to a stronger solution of alcohol which removes the last trace of foreign substance after 5 to 10 minutes in this solution it is put in a solution of xylol the xylol removes the alcohol finally it goes into a solution of clove oil specimens prepared in this way may be kept indefinitely in clove oil or they may be mounted on a microscope slide for detailed study in preparing a microscope slide the glass slide is first completely cleaned with alcohol and wiped dry it is placed on a simple paper layout a small quantity of canadaa Balsam is used as a preserving medium the specimen is removed from the clove oil and placed in The Balsam for exact positioning the slide is placed under the microscope a pointed object such as an insect pin is used to turn the specimen into proper position for the best microscopic view finally a small glass cover slip is set on the ballal the balsom hardens in 48 hours and the specimen is indefinitely preserved for microscopic examination every insect must be labeled information should include date and location of capture how collected and name of the specimen itself this information is usually put on two or three small labels which are kept with the specimen proper labeling is one of the most important parts of mounting and preserving insects papered insects are labeled and those in transparent envelopes specimens in vials carry labels directly in the preserving medium microscope slides are also properly labeled for future reference one of the most interesting ways to preserve an insect that might not otherwise be kept is to shoot its picture in the field right in its native environment most collectors prefer to shoot color slides for they accurately reproduce the exact color and form of the living insect this method of preserving an insect may be as important a collecting tool as the insect itself another collecting method is to draw a picture of the living specimen this is especially useful when the collector wishes to emphas ize particular detailed parts of the specimen the drawing can first be made in pencil and completed by retracing the lines in a permanent Liquid Ink there are countless ways limited only sourceful of adding to the permanent stable collection the living unstable members of the wonderful world of insects [Music]