PLAN FOR INSECT STUDY 51 



secure for him such an inexhaustible supply of material for 

 study, and every boy and girl should have one of his own. 

 To preserve your insect, you must first kill it without 

 injury, and this is best done with a cyanide bottle. Get a 

 wide-mouthed bottle and a good cork to fit it tightly. In 

 the bottom put an ounce of potassium cyanide broken into 



FIG. 15. MAKING THE INSECT NET 



lumps not larger than a filbert ; add sawdust a little more 

 than enough to cover the largest lumps and pour in plaster 

 of Paris, mixed to the consistency of thick cream, to form 

 a layer a quarter of an inch thick. The plaster will 

 harden in a few minutes, and an insect dropped in and 

 corked up will die almost instantly and without injury or 

 apparent suffering. What kills the insect is the fumes 



