[NHCOLL-L:2343] Re: Insects and glue

[David Furth]

I did not imply there is a consensus.  I also did not "insist" on using water soluble glues.  Shellac gel and PVA are also OK.  I based my statement on my own experience and practicality.  My experience is also with small critters and with mounting techniques and glues from around the world and going back well over 100 years.  I have not experienced the problems Doug mentions with removing specimens or parts thereof with warm/hot water or with dissecting them.  I have heard many complaints about nail polish and have used it my self, but agree with many entomologists around the globe that it is not optimum.  Also their solvents are not always easily accessible.
 
As implied by Doug, there is a practicality of "white glues" (water soluble) and not everyone around the world has easy access to shellac gel, PVA, etc.
 
Like most of our disciplines there are a variety of techniques that work.  Humans by nature are subjective, whether in what holds things together or how they arrange things!
 
***********************************************
David G. Furth, Ph.D.
Collections Manager
Department of Entomology, MRC 165
National Museum of Natural History
Smithsonian Institution
P. O. Box 37012
Washington, D. C. 20013-7012
Phone: 202-357-3146
Fax: 202-786-2894
Email: furth.david at nmnh.si.edu 
Website: http://entomology.si.edu  


>>> Doug Yanega <dyanega at ucr.edu> 06/17/04 02:55PM >>>

Timothy Tomon asked:


I was originally taught that insects should be prepared (pointed, repaired, etc.) with alcohol soluble glue.

However, I recently read in an article that "glue should be water soluble" [Journal of Insect Conservation
7 (1): 33-44, March 2003].
Is there a consensus on this?  If so, can someone recommend specific products?
and Dave Furth wrote:

Water-soluble glue is best for a numbe of reasons, even Elmer's, hide glue, etc.

I'd be very surprised if there was a consensus, and am a bit surprised that someone would insist on water-soluble glue. David, you say there are "reasons" to use such glue, but give none of them. Can you elaborate? My understanding and experience is this: over short periods of time, water-soluble glue seems to be fine, but not after 50 years or so; when it gets very old, it definitely loses its solubility - if an insect has parts embedded in the glue, then, it becomes nearly impossible to remove, and if not, they seem prone to falling off the point. This loss of solubility does not appear to occur with alcohol-based adhesives. Accordingly, whenever we're mounting tiny insects that may need, at some future date, to be removed from the point (for dissection or slide mounting) we try to use either shellac gel or polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as the adhesive. For larger insects (say, over 5 mm) and repairs, we often use whatever is handy, which is typically white glue or sometimes clear nail polish, both of which are VASTLY easier to obtain than either shellac gel or PVA. We generally make our own shellac gel, using standard recipes, and we have an ancient stash of Gelva (a type of PVA) which is guarded jealously and used sparingly, as it seems to not be sold in anything less than gargantuan industrial-sized quantities any more. If anyone knows a good source for fresh PVA in small amounts, I'd be very interested. Likewise, if anyone knows legitimate reasons to consider shellac gel or PVA to be *bad*, I'd like to know.


Peace,
-- 

Doug Yanega        Dept. of Entomology         Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California - Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521
phone: (909) 787-4315 (standard disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
             http://cache.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html 
  "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
        is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82

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