User:Shyamal/Insect collections

Insect_collecting Conservation and restoration of insect specimens Entomological equipment for mounting and storage

Insect collections are repositories of insect specimens maintained for long-term references for use mainly in identification and used for research in evolution and morphology and other aspects of the physical structure of insects. Specimens are typically pinned along with labels and placed in small boxes and classified into racks in cabinets. Specimens may also be stored in liquid preservatives in some cases. Insect collections grew during the era of colonialism with private collectors and maintainers of cabinets of curiosities collected new species from distant colonies but most collections today are maintained by natural history museums and university entomology departments and individual insect collectors.

History
Reverend Jerome Schmitt (1857-1904) a German born theologian and insect collector who taught at the Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina is thought to have designed the eponymous Schmitt box which was later manufactured by a Brooklyn cabinet manufacturer named John Schmitt (born Schmidt) whose son John B. Smith worked as an entomologist the US National Museum from 1884 to 1889. The dimensions were standardized by C.V. Riley.