185 



SHORT DIRECTIONS 



FOR 



COLLECTING AND PRESERVING. 



Mammals. — Skins may be dressed with arsenical soap or 

 alum and salt (see Appendix). Skeletons (the skulls are most 

 important) may be cleaned by the agoncy of ants. For this 

 purpose the skeletons, coarsely divested of their flesh, are 

 placed in a box and set over an ant's nest, holes in the box 

 being made for the passage of the insects. Skulls may be 

 prepared by cautious boiling and subsequent removal of the 

 flesh. Bodies of smaller kinds may be preserved in spirit or 

 other preserving fluid after removal of intestines. 



Bieds. —Skins and skeletons as in the case of mammals. Pre- 

 serve skulls, breastbones, feet, and eggs. 



Reptiles, as in the case of mammals; they may be killed by 

 being violently thrown on soft ground, or by a knife stab at 

 the junction of the head and neck. 



Fish. — Smaller kinds may be preserved in spirit. Larger 

 reptiles and fish may be cut through lengthways, and the half 

 skin glued or sewn on pasteboard. 



Note the contents of the stomach or crop of the foregoing 

 to determine the food. 



Insects may be sought for under the bark of living trees, 

 under stones, about and in the carcases of decaying animals, 

 on the leaves and flowers of herbs, shrubs, and trees, and in 

 pools and streams. Some must be sought for at night by the 

 aid of a lantern. Most may be captured by hand. Small 

 forceps are useful to pick up insects, especially the noxious 

 ones ; but some others, as butterflies, may be caught by a 

 muslin bag-net, and the aquatic species may be taken by the 

 same means. 



Delicate specimens may be temporarily pinned to a layer of 

 cork or agave stem, in the crown of a tall hat. A captured 

 insect, not being a butterfly or moth, should be killed by 



