CAPTURING AND PRESERVING INSECTS. 15 



killed aud also preserved, for the time being, by dropping them into 

 alcohol. For this purpose every collector should have in his pocket one 

 or more small, strong, wide-mouthed bottles, securely corked, aud filled 

 about two-thirds full with alcohol. The common morphine bottles an- 

 swer this purpose very well. The quinine bottle can be used when a 

 larger bottle is required. The insects can be left in the alcohol till the 

 collector has leisure to pin them. They can be taken from the bottle 

 with a pair of foreceps, or the alcohol can be turned oft' into another 

 bottle, and the insects shaken out on to a newspaper, or what is better, 

 a sheet of blotting i)aper, which readily absorbs the moisture. 



Insects which readily take flight, must be captured in a net, which is 

 made like a small dip-net for fishes, by making a hoop of stout wire 

 about ten inches in diameter, with the ends of the wire turned out so as 

 to form a short handle three or four inches long, and this can be length- 

 ened by inserting the ends of the wire into a wooden handle about two 

 feet long. The net is made of lace or tarleton muslin, and should be 

 twenty inches or more in depth. 



Many species which would otherwise escape notice, can be obtained 

 Joy beating the branches of trees, especially forest trees, and catching 

 the insects as they fall. A common umbrella, inverted under the tree, 

 answers this purpose very well. This is in many ways a very useful 

 implement to the collector. It will serve to protect him from the direct 

 rays of the sun, or from a casual shower ; and the hook at the end of 

 the handle will enable him to draw down branches so that they can be 

 satisfactorily examined. The umbrella would be improved by being 

 covered with white cloth, upon which small insects would be more easily 

 detected. 



Most insects except those above mentioned are injured by being im- 

 mersed in alcohol, and butterflies and moths would be ruined by it. 

 These insects can be killed by wetting them with benzine or chloroform. 

 The benzine is the cheaper, and the only objection to it is its disagreea- 

 ble odor. Large insects require to be saturated with chloroform several 

 times to destroy life. A very neat way to kill the smaller moths is 

 to put them under a wine-glass and put in with them a tuft of wool sat- 

 urated with chloroform. The moths are killed by the fumes, without 

 being wet or handled. Some use for this purpose a poisonous prepara- 

 tion called cyanide of potassium. 



In mounting beetles the pin should be passed through the right wing- 

 cover ; other insects are pinned through the thorax. The pin should be 

 inserted so far that half of it will project below the body of the insect. 



The value of a collection of insects is greatly enhanced by having the 

 legs and wings of the specimens displayed in a life-like attitude. For 

 this purpose they must be set out with pins, and held so a day or two 

 till they have become fixed. For spreading the wings of butterflies and 



