1902 Butterfly -Hunting in the Alps 97 



what I consider the best outfit for a foreign butterfly-hunt. 

 There are many things to be taken into consideration — space, 

 opportunity, and the desired length of series among them ; 

 but, above all, it is necessary that the collector's implements 

 should be handy and compact. I take a folding net of the 

 pattern supplied by M. Graf Kriisi, of Gais, St Gallen, 

 which will fit on to my walking-stick, and, if the climb is not 

 too stiff, do not trouble about another. And now comes the 

 crux — how to store our captures. Collecting only occasional 

 specimens, the best plan undoubtedly is to consign them 

 from the net to glass-bottomed pill-boxes, where they can 

 be closely examined, and, if found incomplete, battered, or 

 of no account, liberated. The boxes (some fifty of them) 

 may be carried in a satchel (I use an ordinary cartridge- 

 bag), the cardboard tops being bored to admit the air, and 

 later on to assist the killing. All boxes filled during the 

 day I place in one large tin box (the cook at the hotel will 

 give you one for the asking) with a small quantity of liquid 

 ammonia, and placing a piece of thin material or paper on 

 the top so as to make the tin edges fit close, leave the insects 

 to their fate. In the morning they will be found dead, and 

 the wings quite supple for setting out, which can be done 

 at leisure, if we have brought setting-boards, and a case for 

 them to travel in. 



For collectors moving from place to place such a box — 

 easily made and fitted with cork setting-boards, unpapered 

 and with flat surface — is essential. On the other hand, 

 many collectors simply kill their butterflies in the net by 

 the old-fashioned plan of pinching them under the thorax, 

 pin them then and there, and either set them out on return 

 to the hotel (in which case the cork of the collecting-box 

 should be kept permanently damp to prevent stiffening) or 

 defer the setting altogether until the tour is over and the 

 specimens brought home in the store -boxes just as they 

 are to England. Another plan which can be recom- 

 mended, with a little practice, is to place the dead insect 

 in a triangular paper envelope suited to its size, taking 

 care that the antennae are doubled well back over the 

 head, otherwise they are apt to snap. But I am bound 

 to confess that I have had great difficulty as a rule in 



