CoLivECTixG AND Preserving Dr-vgonfijes 



return in the evening the knich is usually replaced by a small turtle, a few 

 small snakes, a set of bird's eggs, some seeds, leaves or flowers, or whatever 

 of interest the day may have yielded. Pairing dragonflies, if it is desired 

 to keep them together, are killed in smaller bottles and the pair put in an 

 envelope by themselves, or, as taken from the net, the pair are impaled on 

 a No. I insect pin, and later unpinned and placed together in an envelope. 

 Large dragonflies such as the larger libellulines, jMacromia, the aeschnines 

 and gomphines may be carried home alive. Simply rotate the head once till 

 the neck snaps, and place them in the envelopes. They will live a day or 

 more in a comatose condition, expelling the contents of the alimentary canal. 

 In the evening at home they can be killed in a cyanide bottle and papered 



Fig. 2. Envelope for papered specimens. 



at once, or they may be allowed to die naturally and then papered. Twisting 

 the heads of large species will prevent their biting and possibly injuring the 

 wings of other specimens if they are dropped into the cyanide bottle in 

 the field. 



With the specimens safely home, a piece of white oilcloth spread on a 

 table, makes an ideal place for sorting, arranging and papering specimens. 

 Personally the writer prefers to paper all of the material, later selecting 

 from the dried specimens such as it is desirable to pin. As the conventional 

 methods of pinning and expanding specimens have been so well explained 

 by lepidopterists little will be said on the subject (see page 13). 



Papering specimens. — The most convenient envelope is the usual three- 

 cornered one made by folding a rectangular piece of paper as indicated, the 

 folds to be made in the order shown, a and b being the inside of the 

 envelope. Do not fold with a and b outside as the resulting envelope will 



