'322 



TAXIDERMY AND ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING. 



FIG. 91. Collecting 

 Jar. Cy., Cyanide of 

 potash wedged into 

 place with soft paper; 

 P, perforated paper disc. 



to hold the lumps of the cyanide in position. Pour in two or 

 three drops of water. Take a piece of stout and clean writing- 

 paper and describe upon it a circle of the 

 same size as the inside of the bottle, and 

 around this another circle three-quarters of 

 an inch greater in diameter. Cut out a circu- 

 lar disc of paper, following with the scissors 

 the line of the outer circle. At intervals of a 

 quarter of an inch cut slits all around the disc 

 of paper extending them inwardly only as far 

 as the first circle drawn upon the paper. Fold 

 back the outer edge of the disc upon the side 

 of the paper which is to come uppermost in 

 the bottle. With a pin, or a small punch, 

 pierce a number of holes through the middle 

 of the paper. Apply some gum to the edge 

 of the disc which has been folded back, and 

 fix it securely on the top of the mass of cyanide and paper at 

 the bottom of the jar, by pressing the gummed edge against 

 the sides of the bottle. This method is infinitely preferable to 

 the old way of fixing the cyanide in the bottom of the jar by 

 pouring in a cement of plaster of Paris. In- 

 stead of lumps of cyanide of potash, lumps 

 of carbonate of ammonia may be used to 

 charge the poisoning- jar, but a jar so charged 

 must never be used to kill insects which are 

 green in color, as the fumes of the ammonia 

 often serve to bleach these and make them 

 white or brown. 



In the case of large insects, or insects 

 which struggle violently, a few drops of 

 chloroform may be poured into the collect- 

 ing-jar, to prevent them from injuring themselves. Chloro- 

 form is not, however, to be commended as a killing agent, inas- 

 much as it induces thoracic spasms, which make the specimen 

 difficult to set after death. In the case of the larger moths and 

 beetles death may be instantaneously induced by injecting u 

 solution of cyanide of potash with a hypodermic syringe. Th( 

 use of oxalic acid in solution, administered by making an inci- 



FIG. 92. Perforated 

 Disc of Paper for Holding 

 Cj-anide ill Place at Bot- 

 tom of Jar. 



