Collecting and Preserving . 165 



Perflim«IT, continued. 



2. One - half lb. common salt, % lb. saltpetei% % oz. storax, 

 1^ doz. cloves, a handful of dried bay-leaves, and another handful 

 of dried lavender-flowers. This basis will last for years, and 

 petals of roses and other fragrant flowers gathered on dry days 

 may be added annually, or powdered benzoin, chips of sandal- 

 wood, cinnamon, orris-root or musk may be added. 



Lavender Bag. — One-half lb. lavender-flowers, 3^ oz. dried 

 thyme and mint, % oz. ground cloves and caraway, 1 oz. common 

 salt. Tie up in a linen bag, which is hung in a wardrobe. 



Orris-root is a good medium in which to place delicate per- 

 fumes for perfumery-bags. 



4. Collecting and Preserving Insects. 



Plying insects are caught in a net made of musquito-bar, after 

 the fashion of the minnow-net. The bar is made into a bag 

 about a yard deep, and about a foot in width at the top. The 

 opening is fastened upon a wire hoop, which is secured to a pole — 

 as a broomstick. Insects are killed bj^ placing them in a 

 "cyanide-bottle." This is prepared by placing two or three 

 lumps of cyanide of potassium the size of a quail's &^^ in a 

 museum-bottle or glass jar, covering the lumps with dry plaster 

 of Paris, and then adding just enough water to make the plaster 

 set. The fumes of the poison coming through the plaster quickly 

 kill the insects. Keep the bottle corked. The cyanide is very 

 poisonous and the fumes should not be inhaled. A very broad- 

 mouthed bottle with glass stopple is best. Bugs and beetles can 

 be pinned and mounted as soon as they are dead. It is custom- 

 ary to pin beetles through the right wing-cover, and bugs — as 

 squash-bug — through the triangular space between the wings. 

 Butterflies, moths, bees, flies, etc., must be pressed to preserve 

 the wings. This is done by placing on a " setting-board." This 

 apparatus is a little trough with a crack at the bottom. The 

 sides of the trough are made of thin bits of board, three or four 

 inches wide and a foot or more long. These sides have very 

 little slant. The crack in the bottom of the trough is left about 

 a half-inch wide, and it is covered beneath with a strip of cork. 

 The body of the insect is now placed lengthwise the crack, a pin 

 is thrust through the thorax, or middle division of the insect, 

 into the cork, and the wings are laid out on the sides of the 



