Charles V. Riley

It is very desirable in transmitting insects from the field of exploration, or from one entomologist to another, for information, exchange, or other purpose, that they be properly secured and packed. Pinned and mounted specimens should be firmly fixed in a cigar box, or a special box for mailing, and this should be carefully but not too tightly wrapped with cotton or other loose packing material to a depth of perhaps an inch, and the whole then inclosed in stiff wrapping paper. It is preferable, however, to inclose the box containing the specimens in a larger box, filling the intervening space, not too firmly, with cotton or other packing material. Where specimens are to be sent to a considerable distance it is advisable also to line the box in which they are placed with cotton, which serves to catch and hold any specimens which may become loose in transit. In the case of alcoholic specimens each vial should be wrapped separately in cotton and placed in a strong wooden or tin box. Special mailing boxes for alcoholic specimens have been devised, and a very convenient form is herewith figured. It is an ordinary tube of wood, with a metal screw top, and the interior lined with rough cork. These tubes are made in various sizes to accommodate vials of different dimensions.

Fig. 126.—Wooden-tube mailing-box: a, tube; b, cover (original.)

In mailing living specimens the essential thing is a strong box, preferably tin, made as nearly air-tight as possible. I have found it very convenient on long trips to carry with me a number of tin boxes in the flat (Fig.127), combined in convenient packages, ready to be bent and improvised in the field. For this purpose get any tinsmith to make out of good tin a number of pieces cut of the requisite dimensions both for the bottoms and the covers, carefully cutting the corners to permit the proper bending of the sides. These improvised boxes will prove useful for keeping living larvÆ with their food-plants, especially if tied up in stout brown paper to prevent any exit from the unsoldered angles. They will also answer admirably for mailing or otherwise sending specimens to their ultimate destination. In the case of larvÆ a quantity of the food-plant should always be inclosed in the box.

In transmitting insects for information the greatest care should be taken to relieve the person of whom information is sought of as much unnecessary work as possible. It is easy for any beginner to collect more in a single day than an experienced entomologist can well mount, study, and determine in a week, and as those who have the means and information to give determinations or otherwise to assist beginners are generally very much occupied, and their time is valuable, they are justified in ignoring miscellaneous collectings where the sender has made no effort to either properly mount or otherwise study and care for his specimens.

Living specimens, especially larvÆ, should be packed in tin, with a supply of their appropriate food. The tighter the box the fresher will the food as well as the specimens keep. Insects do not easily suffocate, and it is worse than useless, in the majority of cases, to punch air-holes in such boxes. Dead specimens, when not pinned, may be sent in a variety of ways. Small ones may be dropped into a quill and inclosed in a letter, or a small vial fitted into a piece of bored wood. Those which do not spoil by wetting may be sent in alcohol, provided the bottle is absolutely filled, or, what is better, in sawdust moistened with alcohol, or between layers of cotton saturated with alcohol.

The postal regulations permit the sending by mail of “dried insects * * * when properly put up, so as not to injure the persons of those handling the mails, nor soil the mail bags or their contents.” Specimens in alcohol may also be sent by mail, provided that the containing vial be strong enough to resist the shock of handling in the mail, and that it be inclosed in a wooden or papier-machÉ tube not less than three-sixteenths of an inch thick in the thinnest part, lined with cork or other soft material, and with a screw top so adjusted as to prevent the leakage of the contents in case of breakage. Entomological specimens are of the fourth class of mail matter, the postage on which is 1 cent an ounce or fraction thereof, the limit of weight for a single package being 4 pounds, and the limit as to bulk 18 inches in any direction. Saleable matter is also non-mailable at fourth-class rates; so that the safer method, with small packages, is to send under letter postage. It is far better, however, for long journeys, and especially for transatlantic shipment, to send by express.