Roger Mills, age 14, of Hobart, Indiana, for his question:
How do I start a moth and butterflv collection?
Nowadays we hesitate to tamper with the earth's surviving creatures and naturally we know that only crazy people enjoy sticking pins into bugs. But neither of these things applies to the serious minded insect collector. This rewarding hobby is permissible provided it is pursued for the right motives and carried out with civilized methods.
A properly prepared collection of mote,:: and butterflies is a beautiful work of art, filled with scientific information. This fascinating hobby requires a few simple items of equipment and practice makes perfect. The purpose behind it is insect study and this can be multiplied if we are not too impatient to catch and mount our specimens. When you net a butterfly and promptly prepare him for display, you miss a chance to observe his life style.
For this reason, Andy recommends an early search for cocoons and caterpillars, eggs and crysalises. That tiger striped caterpillar on a milkweed will turn into a pupa, like a furled green leaf, and eventually emerge as a splendid monarch butterfly. That furry black fellow with a wide red waistband is the caterpillar of the dainty isabella moth. Keep eggs, larvae and pupae in glass jars and observe a living insect zoo. Be sure to make air holes in the lid and add their favorite leafy food. Also keep a trusty notebook and write down where and when you found them, plus all the later stages of your hobby.
Most adult moths and butterflies live only a few days. So prepare them for display soon after they hatch. Place each one gently in an envelope and leave him over night in the freezer compartment of the refrigerator. The cold slows down his metabolism painlessly and he goes to sleep, never to wake. Sometimes the delicate wings must be flattened on a spreading board. This has two wooden slats separated by a space wide enough to place the insect's body in a slot. Gently spread the wings, place a thin plastic strip over each side and attach its two ends to the wood with pins.
A suitable display case may be a cigar box or shallow container, carpeted with corrogated cardboard. Purchase special long thin pins because ordinary ones are too clumsy for mounting your specimens. Also get a supply of small stiff labels. As a rule, the pin goes through a prepared specimen and also through the label bearing its name.
The most important item in this hobby is a complete field book of moths and butterflies, with portraits in full color. You refer to it to identify and classify your specimens. It is wise to display them in separate cases, perhaps according to families or habitats. Before you get carried away, remember that the Order Lepidoptera includes five families of butterflies and 75 moth families. And more than 7,000 different species can be found in North America alone.