26 INSECTS AT HOME. 



to have another digger made, I should have the handle pro- 

 longed into a sort of crow-bar with a rather sharp edge, so as 

 to be able to use it as chisel and lever united. 



When the insects are captured, the next business is to know 

 how to deal with them. There is not the least difficulty with 

 soft-bodied moths or butterflies, as they can be easily killed 

 when caught ; but the hard-bodied Beetles are not so easily 

 deprived of life, and a great number of them' will fight if 

 placed in the same vessel, and eat, or at least mutilate, each 

 other. There is nothing better for such insects, or rather for 

 their capturer, than the ' laurel-bottle.' This is very easily 

 made. Take a wide-mouthed bottle, and fit a cork very firmly 

 into it. Bore a hole through the cork, and insert in the hole 

 a swan-quill or short metal tube about two inches long, so that 

 it may project at least half an inch through the cork into the 

 bottle. The upper end should be stopped with a cork, and it 

 will be better to cut the cork so long that it can be removed 

 by holding it between the teeth. I always cut the upper part 

 of the tube slopingly, so that a very small Beetle can be scooped 

 up with it. 



For many Beetles nothing more is requisite, except to put a 

 piece of crumpled rag at tlie bottom, so as to give them a foothold, 

 but for the fiercer and voracious Adephaga an additional precau- 

 tion is required, and they must be killed as soon as they are 

 put into the bottle, or an undisfigmred specimen will never be 

 obtained. 



If a bottle can be obtained without any neck, the following 

 is the neatest way of making a laurel-bottle : — Cut a flat cork 

 that fits rather tightly in the bottle, but not too tightly to be 

 pushed up and down. Take out a portion of its middle, and 

 insert a piece of fine wire gauze. It will be better to pass a 

 string through each side of the ' plug,' as we will call this cork, 

 and knot them underneath, so that when the plug is to be 

 withdrawn it can be pulled up by the strings. 



Next, procure a handful of the young buds and leaves of 

 laurel, put them into the bottle, and crush them into a paste 

 with the handle of a knife or some such instrument. Now 

 insert the plug, press it down upon the crushed leaves, put in 

 the cork, and the 'laurel-bottle' is complete. If the bottle 

 should have a neck, make a small gauze bag, tie up the 



