22 



INSTRUCTIONS IN LEPIDOPTERA. 



kept out of doors, the larva is as nearly as possible in a state 

 of nature, and no doubt larvae are quite of Mr. Squeers' 

 opinion, that " it is a blessed thing to be in a state of nature." 



Horn to kill Lepidoptera. 



The modes of killing in use among collectors are very 

 various ; some use prussic acid, some use chloroform ; bruised 

 laurel leaves is a convenient way of obtaining the effects of 

 the former poison, without placing anything dangerous in the 

 hands of young people. The receipt for preparing them is as 

 under. 



Gather one hundred laurel leaves, the juiciest you can find 

 (yet they must on no account be wet when gathered); take 

 two or three at a time, and hammer them till they are well 

 bruised ; then with a pair of scissors cut them into small 

 pieces — as small as you like, and place them in an air-tight 

 vessel, so secured by some contrivance that the pieces shall 

 not roll about loose. 



For large moths and sphinges it is necessary to use a more 

 violent poison, and a quill dipped in saturated solution of 

 oxalic acid should be inserted beneath the thorax of the in- 

 sect, by which means the largest species may be killed almost 

 instantly. Those who want an off-hand way of killing insects 

 when neither acids, laurel leaves or chloroform are at hand, 

 will find that by burning one or two brimstone matches under 

 an inverted tumbler, beneath which the insects to be killed 

 have been placed, and leaving the inverted tumbler full of 

 the sulphureous fumes for a few minutes the insects will be 

 completely killed, but green moths will be liable to lose their 

 colour. 



