METHODS OF COLLECTING HETEROPTERA. 



27 



run the risk of a severe wound by their ever ready defensive 

 beaks. In fact, the true bugs, like the beetles, are to be looked 

 for almost everywhere, the main requisites for a good day's 

 capture being a quick eye and a search in all sorts of strange 

 and unlikely places. 



Killing Bottles. — After capturing a specimen for a cabinet 

 it is best to kill it as quickly as possible before its antennae, 

 legs or other delicate appendages are broken. This is best ac- 

 complished by the cyanide bottle which is made by placing in 

 a large mouthed bottle, preferably of the form shown in figure 

 4, small broken pieces of potassium or sodium cyanide to a 

 depth of two-thirds of an inch. Cover this with about one-half 



inch of plaster paris. Moisten the 

 latter with just enough water to 

 cause it to set and hold the cya- 

 nide in place. Then cover with two 

 thicknesses of blotting paper so cut 

 as to closely fit the inside of 

 the bottle. Keep the bottle tightly 

 corked and in a place where children 

 cannot reach it, as the cyanide in any form 

 is a most deadly poison. Any bug placed 

 in the bottle will usually be killed in 

 a few minutes. Several bottles of dif- 

 ferent sizes for both large and small 

 specimens should be taken on each 

 day's trip. After six months or more 

 the cyanide usually loses its poison- 

 ous qualities and must be renewed or 

 the bottle discarded for a fresh one. 

 The cork for the bottle should be 

 long, to make it easy to take out and 

 put in. To support the insects narrow 

 ( Vi - Vh inch) strips of any absorbent 

 paper should be put into the bottle. 

 The paper also absorbs any moisture 

 the insects give off. A little of the 

 Fig. 4. a cyanide bottle with curled paper should be packed down, 



paper strips enclosed to keep the x- r- i 



insects from jostling too freely. no t too tightly, and the rest put in 



(After Banks). ° J ' c 



loosely, about halfway up the bottle. 

 When the insect falls in, it falls among the coils and seldom 

 gets away. The cyanide bottle, after being used several times, 



