preservation of specimens

[Laura S. Voigt]

My last note seems to have gone astray, perhaps it wound up in e-mail.
You might try ordinary nail polish remover - acetone - and a jar with a
good seal, and some paper tissues.  You pad the bottom of the jar some,
and pour in some nail polish remover, but not enough to make it dripping
wet.  Actually straight acetone might be better, because some nail
polish removers contain oil.  (I worked mainly with coleoptera.)  Then
you lightly layer the paper hankies with the specimens between, with
their labels.  The labels can be just pieces of cardboard, or even
paper, written with pencil- temporary labels.  Then, when you arrive
home, the specimens should be soft to mount, and in good shape. Tropics
and heat, maybe go a little easy on the acetone, so the jar doesn't
burst, but in my wonderings in North America and southern Canada,
camping in a VW camper, I never had trouble with jars bursting, even
when the vehicle became heated in the sun.  If in doubt, there are poly
plastic jars with good lids that might serve you better all around.  But
of the various insect collecting methods, using the simple acetone (nail
polish) method has served me best.  Laura Voigt