There is a constant demand, especially from correspondents of the Museum
and also of the Department of Agriculture, for information as to how to
collect, preserve, and mount insects. There is also great need of some
simple directions on a great many other points connected with the proper
packing of insects for transmission through the mails or otherwise;
labeling; methods of rearing; boxes and cabinets; text-books, etc.
Interest in the subject of entomology has, in fact, made rapid growth in
the last few years, and now that nearly every State has an official
entomologist connected with its State Agricultural Experiment Station,
the number of persons interested in the subject may be expected to
increase largely in the near future. I have hitherto made use of the
Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, No. 261, which is a pamphlet on
collecting and preserving insects prepared by Dr. A. S. Packard. This is
out of print, and I have been requested by Prof. Goode to prepare for
Bulletin 39, U. S. N. M., something that would cover the whole ground
and give the more essential information needed for collectors and
students of insect life. I have deemed it unnecessary to go too much
into detail, but have studied not to omit anything essential. Customs
and methods vary in different countries and with different individuals,
but the recommendations contained in the following pages are based upon
my own experience and that of my assistants and many acquaintances, and
embrace the methods which the large majority of American entomologists
have found most satisfactory.
Much of the matter is repeated bodily from the directions for collecting
and preserving insects published in my Fifth Report on the Insects of
Missouri (1872) and quotations not otherwise credited are from that
Report. The illustrations, also, when not otherwise credited or not
originally made for this paper, are from my previous writings. Some are
taken from Dr. Packard's pamphlet, already mentioned; others, with the
permission of Assistant Secretary Willits, from the publications of the
Department of Agriculture, while a number have been especially made for
the occasion, either from photographs, or from drawings by Miss L.
Sullivan or Dr. Geo. Marx or Mr. C. L. Marlatt. When enlarged, the
natural size is indicated in hair-line. In the preparation of the
pamphlet I have had the assistance of Mr. E. A. Schwarz, and more
particularly of Mr. C. L. Marlatt, to both of whom I desire here to
express my obligations.