During studies on the internal anatomy of moths, morphologists often encounter difficulties in removing the muscles and the fat body. Routine sectioning techniques are time consuming. The alcoholic Bouin's fixative (after Drake and McEwen 1959) commonly employed in microhistological techniques renders soft tissues too brittle for dissection. There are several other difficulties involved in dissecting fresh specimens—e.g., nerves, in particular, are very difficult to see. An ideal technique would harden the muscles and soften the tracheae so that they can be easily removed. Also, the ideal fixative and staining techniques should soften the exoskeleton, cause a minimum of shrinking or swelling of the tissues, and be comparatively harmless to the hands and to metal instruments.