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 alcoho’. 
or by pinching. Beetles and bugs may be kept in the ai- 
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 
