BEGINNING AS A COLLECTOR 41 



after many years' experience I find that no very 

 elaborate preparations are necessary for a six months' 

 dive into the New Guinea forest. I take ordinary 

 stores of food, quinine as a remedy against fever, a 

 little brandy for medical use if that is feasible, and 

 my drug-case contains Epsom Salts, permanganate 

 of potash, and chlorodyne. The most serious part 

 of my outfitting equipment is that which is needed 

 for the collections which I make. The butterfly 

 hunter who contemplates a six months' plunge into 

 virgin forest must carry a collecting outfit not differing 

 much in character from that of a naturalist putting 

 in a week-end in the New Forest. But he must 

 enormously increase the quantity of his gear, and if 

 his work is to be, as mine was, in a damp, tropical 

 climate some special precautions are needed against 

 mildew. On the expedition in which I am to be 

 engaged this year (1913) I shall take a good supply 

 of butterfly nets sufficient for the use of the collecting 

 boys I directly employ, and of friendly natives who 

 can be enlisted temporarily as collectors; a supply of 

 non-rusting pins for setting; killing-bottles with 

 cyanide of potassium for killing small insects and 

 syringes with acetic acid for killing large insects; 

 pill-boxes for small insects; japanned tin air-tight 

 and cork-lined collecting cases. It is simple enough 

 on paper; not so simple when it has to be carried 

 strung on poles by bearers through the mountain 

 jungles. 



