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.
[Illustration: 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 larvae 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 larvae a quantity
of the food-plant should always be inclosed in the box.
[Illustration: FIG. 127.--Tin mailing-box in the flat: _a_, box; _b_,
cover (original).]
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.
[Illustration: FIG. 128.--Tin mailing-box, bent into shape for use
(original.)]
Living specimens, especially larvae, 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-mache 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.