# Is there a name for "pinning a butterfly/moth to a piece of cardboard"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 30, 2005, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-pinning-a-butterfly-moth-to-a-piece-of-cardboard/324129 "2005-09-30T01:40:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![La\_Llorona](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@La\_Llorona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/La_Llorona)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-pinning-a-butterfly-moth-to-a-piece-of-cardboard/324129/1 "2005-09-30T01:40:22Z")
You know what I mean. Gruesome-minded kid and/or scientific-minded entomologist takes a butterfly or a moth and secures it to a piece of cardboard with the aid of a straight pin. I keep feeling like there’s a longish name for this, admirable in its simplicity, but I can’t recall it for the life of me. Does such a term exist? If so, what is it? And what body part is it through which it is customary to stab the butterfly/moth? Thorax? ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-pinning-a-butterfly-moth-to-a-piece-of-cardboard/324129/2 "2005-09-30T01:43:12Z")
Impalement? ---
**Author:** ![CBCD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@CBCD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBCD)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-pinning-a-butterfly-moth-to-a-piece-of-cardboard/324129/3 "2005-09-30T01:56:51Z")
It’s called pinning, or mounting. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-pinning-a-butterfly-moth-to-a-piece-of-cardboard/324129/4 "2005-09-30T01:56:59Z")
Mounting? (heh. she said “mounting.”) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-pinning-a-butterfly-moth-to-a-piece-of-cardboard/324129/5 "2005-09-30T02:03:40Z")
I can’t think of a more technical term than pinning or mounting (and I’ve pinned my share of insects). And yes, the insect is normally pinned through the thorax. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-pinning-a-butterfly-moth-to-a-piece-of-cardboard/324129/6 "2005-09-30T02:04:09Z")
The study of butterflies is lepidoptery, if that’s more like the word you had in mind. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-pinning-a-butterfly-moth-to-a-piece-of-cardboard/324129/7 "2005-09-30T02:57:15Z")
> [@La Llorona](#): > > …entomologist takes a butterfly or a moth and secures it to a piece of cardboard with the aid of a straight pin. While entomologists use pins that are straight, they aren’t what are commonly called “straight pins.” They use [insect pins,](http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/ent/notes/4H/insect_pinning4a.html) which are “longer, stronger and thinner than an average pin.”