66 THREE KINGDOMS. 



Take a wide-mouthed candy-jar; get your drug- 

 gist to lay four or five pieces of cyanide of potassium 

 as large as walnuts in it, and cover them with a layer 

 of sawdust. Over this fit a piece of writing-paper. 

 Then pour over all half an inch of liquid plaster-of- 

 Paris. This will quickly harden, forming a smooth 

 floor, on which any insect when dropped, will quickly 

 and quietly die. 



The jar must be labeled poison, and must be kept 

 closed with an air-tight cover. 



A collecting-case can be made of any light, shallow 

 box, by lining it with cork, and affixing straps by which 

 it may be slung around the neck. Compartments may 

 be made in it, for the cyanide and chloroform bottles, 

 for forceps, insect-pins, envelopes, etc. Having got 

 your insects home, they must be carefully mounted. 

 You should have several 'setting-boards.' These 

 are simply thin boards, grooved at intervals so as 

 to admit the bodies of moths and butterflies, in such 

 a way that their wings may be flat on the board. Strips 

 of cork may be glued along the bottom of the grooves 

 to receive the pins. 



Pin your specimens in a groove of proper depth, 

 and spread the wings carefully with your forceps, or 

 with needles set in wooden handles. 



Fasten them by laying strips of glass over them, or 

 by pinning strips of paper across them. They should 

 be allowed to dry for a week or two according to size. 

 The bodies of large lepidoptera should be brushed with 

 a solution of corrosive sublimate, one-half drachm ; 

 arsenic, four grains ; alcohol, one-half pint. This is, 

 of course, very poisonous, and should be so labeled 

 and treated. 



If your insects have become dry and brittle, they 

 must be relaxed before you attempt to mount them. 

 This may be done by laying them on wet sand, but 



