THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 55 



Our collecting appliances consisted of nets, envelopes, " cyanide " 

 bottles and pill-boxes. Mr. Henshaw and myself each had a cyanide 

 bottle. The collecting was practically done by Mr. Henshaw and myself, 

 as Dr. Hagen was physically unable to enter into it, however much he 

 might have wished to do so. Personally I collected everything in the 

 " cyanide " bottle, except lepidoptera. These were transferred direct 

 from the net to envelopes. Mr. Henshaw not only collected everything 

 in the cyanide bottle, but not unfrequently placed his lepidoptera therein 

 when he was out of envelopes, and would hand them to myself out of the 

 bottle when we met. I have an unmistakeable recollection of this fact, 

 and it was for this reason I dubbed it " omnivorous."* 



When collecting (I remember especially at Yakima City, where Colias 

 was unusually common), I not only put into a single paper envelope 

 specimens taken " in copula," but also those playing together and taken 

 with the same sweep of the net, so that the fact of being in the same 

 envelope is not proof of copulation, in all cases, so far as I am concerned. 



When we reached camp after collecting, I used to prepare and num- 

 ber the lepidoptera first, and then assisted Mr. Henshaw with the beetles 

 and other insects, which were packed " en masse " in pill-boxes, the lat- 

 ter labeled as were the envelopes with the number of the camp. 



During the trip there was entire harmony and free discussion between 

 Mr. Henshaw and myself I believe I am correct in adding that at that 

 time none of the party knew exactly what species of Colias we were 

 collecting. 



Now to the gist of the whole matter, which is a question as to the 

 action of cyanide of potassium on the yellows of the genus CoHas, and in 

 particular, on one individual specimen of this genus taken during our 

 wanderings in Washington Territory. 



Now, although we discussed Menapia, Machaon and Leto,'\ I never 

 heard of this " cyanide changed Colias " until its discussion in the peri- 

 odicals. To me it would have been of peculiar interest, as I happened 

 to have suffered severely by the action of cyanide on yellow insects on a 

 former occasion, when in Fresno County I collected several hundred yel- 

 low marked hymenoptera in excessively hot weather {the bottle perspiring 



* See Papilio, iv., p. 170, for this expression. In Ent. Amer., i., p. 119, Mr. 

 Henshaw seems to object to the word " omnivorous." 



t Henshaw, paper before cited. 



