THE STUDY OF ENTOMOLOGY. 



253 



" naturalists," who sell both apparatus and insects ; an hour spent 

 in examining the contents, or even only the window of such a 

 naturalist's shop, will go far to acquaint the student with the 

 nature of the nets, etc., used, and he can, with a little ingenuity, 

 make them for himself. An overcoat with two large pockets, the 

 right containing empty pill-boxes, will be very useful. When an 

 insect is caught, the box containing it can be transferred to the 

 left-hand pocket. A pill-box is a useful trap, too. A growing 

 leaf, with an insect upon it, can be secured between the lid and 

 the box with but little trouble. Flies on a wall can be captured 

 by placing a pill-box over them like an extinguisher : the fly soon 

 gets in the box, and the lid can be quickly placed and secured. 

 An open umbrella drawn along the grass brings to hand many 

 prizes ; and a newspaper under a hedge will receive the cater- 

 pillars which a stroke with the stick shakes off the bushes. 



Perhaps the most unpleasant task of the entomologist is to 

 kill his insects. A few pence will procure a year's supply of 

 benzine coUas, in which a strip of blotting paper may be dipped, 

 and then placed in a wide-necked bottle, and corked up. His 

 captures may be put into it as obtained, and the vapour soon kills 

 them. Chloroform, bruised laurel leaves, or powdered cyanide of 

 potassium, have the same effect. A pinch in the thorax will kill 

 butterflies and small moths at once ; large ones, however, need 

 stabbing between the first pair of legs with a knife-point or a clean 

 quill pen, first dipped in a solution of cyanide of potassium or laurel 

 juice. The coleoptera, orthoptera, and hemiptera, are destroyed 

 by immersion in boiling water, and small moths and flies can be 

 killed by the same means, only they should be first placed in a 

 closed bottle, which is then forced under the hot liquid. The 

 heat of an oven is as effectual, but it requires more time and care 

 to effect the purpose, and it is our duty when killing these crea- 

 tures to select the most speedy death for them, so as not to 

 prolong their pangs — if pangs they feel, which some doubt — 

 unnecessarily. The vapour of burning sulphur is also very 

 destructive, but it damages colours. 



The most expensive part of the entomologist's pursuits is the 

 formation of a cabinet for the preservation of specimens. For 

 particulars on this point we refer our readers to Coleman's little 



