40 COLLECTING AND PRESERVING INSECTS. 



if this cannot be procured, common whiskej' will answer very 

 well, but must, when the specimens are numerous, be replaced 

 by fresh liquor. The smaller specimens should be kept in 

 a separate bottle. AVhen the bottle is full, the liquor should 

 be poured off and replaced by fresh alcohol or whiskey, and 

 closely corked. If there is much danger of breaking in trans- 

 portation, the specimens, after being well soaked with the al- 

 cohol, may be allowed to dry partially, but not so as to become 

 brittle, and then packed in small pasteboard boxes, taking 

 care, by shaking the box well before finally closing it, to pack 

 the specimens so closely that they cannot be broken by moving 

 about ; the box may then be closed by pasting a small strip of 

 paper around it, and the locality, date of collection, etc., 

 written on the top." (Leconte.) 



We copy from a chapter on collecting Coleoptera, by Edward 

 Newman, in Greene's "Insect Hunter's Companion" (London, 

 1870), an account of Mr. Crotch's plan of killing and pre- 

 serving beetles, of especial use while on a long journey. 



"The following method has now been in use some time, and 

 hence has been fairly tested. Its advantages are very great, 

 so that I make no apology for introducing it to the notice of 

 your readers. The first idea of the process is due, as far as I 

 know, to M. cle Vuille-froi, who used it with me in Spain, some 

 years ago, with great success. The specimens may be collected 

 in two ways, according to the size and the convenience of the 

 collector. The first and best way, for small species, is by 

 putting them into a bottle containing about half an inch of 

 dry pine-sawdust, in which has been previously placed a small 

 piece of cyanide of potassium about as big as a pea : they 

 will then die instantly. Larger species and small species 

 which do not fly readily, may be put into spirits in the ordi- 

 nary way, but the Stiiphylinidce and others generally open 

 their wings in this process. The sawdust should be pine-wood 

 and sifted free from chips on the one hand and from dust on 

 the other, so as to be of an uniform size. For storing the 

 species thus collected, a few tin canisters will be found most 

 convenient ; a layer of sawdust is placed at the bottom, and 

 then beetles and so on alternately to the top. The sawdust 

 used in the tins should be damped (not wetted) with a mixture 

 of spirit and one-twentieth part of carbolic acid, which will 



