COLLECTING INSECTS. 21 



to escape ; it should then be kept securely corked. One of 

 these cyanide bottles will answer for a season's collecting and 

 is safe for children to use. An older person, however, should 

 prepare the bottle, as the cyanide is very poisonous and 

 sometimes produces severe ulcers on the parts of the body 

 with which it may come in contact. 



Some instead of cyanide use ether, chloroform, benzine, 

 or bisulphide of carbon in the bottle, but the rapidity with 

 which these evaporate renders them far less convenient than 

 the cyanide. Dr. Loew recommends moistening the bottom 

 of the collecting bottle with creosote for killing Diptera. 

 Lepidoptera may be killed by giving a severe pinch to the 

 sides of the thorax, though this is very apt to remove many 

 of the "feathers" from the body. The wings of a butterfly 

 should never be touched with the fingers and great care 

 should be taken to avoid mutilation of any insect. 



For carrying specimens home the collector should be pro- 

 vided with wide-mouthed vials and bottles ; some empty 

 and some containing alcohol; a supply of "pill boxes" and 

 a cork-lined box two inches in depth and in its other dimen- 

 sions as large as can be conveniently carried in the pocket. 

 Insect pins of various sizes are indispensable. The insects 

 on being collected may be carried home alive by placing 

 them in the pill boxes or the empty vials ; or they may be 

 killed by the cyanide bottle or being placed in the alcohol, 

 or by pinching. Beetles and bugs may be kept in the al- 

 cohol, or with other forms pinned in the field and kept in 

 the cork-lined box. The writer has found a stiff round 

 crowned hat a very convenient substitute for the cork-lined 



