1x ON MAKING A COLLECTION 221 
butterfly net, though males drowsing on flowers may 
be picked up in the fingers. 
The best way to kill the bees is to place them in 
a wide-mouthed bottle, in the bottom of which a 
mixture of cyanide of potassium and plaster of Paris 
has been spread to-a depth of an inch or two. Any 
chemist will make up this kind of killing-bottle. 
Care is needed to prevent moisture from getting 
into the hairs of the specimens lying in the killing- 
bottle, for this soon spreads over the coat and quite 
spoils the appearance of the specimen. The moisture 
is usually caused by the bees regurgitating the 
nectar they have collected, and is quickly communi- 
cated to all the specimens through their rolling 
about in the bottle. The best preventative is 
crushed tissue paper put into the bottle before going 
out collecting; this will absorb the moisture and 
will keep the specimens from moving about. The 
bottle should not be exposed to sunshine, for this 
heats it and in cooling moisture condenses on the 
inner surface of the glass. Of course the fewer 
specimens there are in the bottle the less likely they 
are to damage one another. 
A properly prepared cyanide bottle, if it is kept 
well corked, lasts for a year or two, and renders any 
bee placed in it motionless and insensible in less 
than half a minute. If the specimen is to be set, it 
should at this stage have its wings pulled so that 
they rest in a horizontal, not vertical, position. It 
should then be left in the bottle for an hour or 
two ; if less it may revive, and if longer it will stiffen 
