Monday, September 15, 2008

Double Mounts




Insects that are too small to be pinned directly on standard pins and yet should be preserved dry may be pinned as double mounts. This term refers to the insect’s being mounted on a minuten or card point, which in turn is mounted or attached to a standard insect pin . Minutens are available from supply houses in 10 and 15- mm lengths and in two or three thicknesses. They are finely pointed at one end, headless on the other, and generally of stainless steel. Double mounts are assembled by inserting the minuten into a small cube of soft, pithy material such as fine cork, balsa wood, fine-textured plastic, or polyporus, which is a pure white material obtained from a bracket fungus. Polyporus traditionally has been a favorite material, but it is expensive and difficult to obtain, especially in America.

Many entomologists prefer silicone rubber, obtained from plastics suppliers and made into plaques by pouring the polymerized material, a thick creamy liquid, into a flat- bottomed plastic container to a depth of about 2.5 mm and allowing it to solidify for several hours. It may then be lifted easily from the mold and cut with a sharp knife or razor blade into square strips and finally into cubes. With most materials, the minuten must be inserted point first, but with silicone rubber it may be inserted dull end first until it strikes the surface on which the cube is Iying, and it will be held firmly. Minutens should be handled with forceps; they are so small that even the unsharpened end can easily pierce a finger.

It is possible, and sometimes preferable, to mount an insect on a minuten before inserting the minuten into the mounting cube; however, it is most convenient to prepare a series of minuten mounts beforehand, already attached to standard No. 3 pins. To mount extremely small insects, such as tiny parasitic wasps, on minutens, pick up a droplet of cement with the prepared minuten and simply place the tip of the minuten with the cement on it between the base of the insect legs or on the right side of the thorax. In mounting an insect on a minuten, the pin need extend no more than barely through the insect. If the insect is lying on a glass surface when it is pierced with the minuten, a little extra pressure will curl the point of the minuten back into the insect and insure that the specimen will not come off the minuten.

Many entomologists prefer to mount insects on a minuten in a vertical position in a short strip of polyporus or silicone, with the minuten therefore parallel to the main pin. The insect lies sidewise in the finished mount, in an excellent position for examination under a microscope, and is less liable to damage in handling than it would be otherwise.

Card points are slender little triangles of stiff paper. They are pinned through the broad end with a No. 2 or 3 insect pin, and the insect is then glued to the point. Card points may be cut with scissors from a strip of paper; they should be no more than 12 mm long and 3 mm wide. However, a special punch for card points, obtainable from entomological supply houses, will make better, more uniform points. Card points should be made only from good quality paper, as good as or better than that used for data labels . If specimens are in good condition and are well prepared, they may reasonably be kept in museum collections for a long time, perhaps even for centuries. Much of the paper in common use does not have that kind of life expectancy; it becomes yellow and brittle with age. Paper made especially to last, such as that used for herbarium sheets in botanical collections, is highly recommended.

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