HOW TO MAKE A COLLECTION OF INSECTS 



31 



light wooden or cane handle three and a half feet long. Any 

 ingenious boy can make the net-haudle and ring. 



For the collecting and killing bottle (fig. 10) put into the 

 bottom of a wide-mouthed bottle (a 4-oz or 6 oz quinine bottle) a 

 tablespoonful of cyanide of potassium which has been broken 

 into small pieces (as large as peas) and cover this with a layer, 



half an inch thick, of plaster 

 of Paris mixed with water to 

 form a thick paste. After the 

 plaster has set (letting the bot- 

 tle stand uncorked), put into 

 the bottle a small crumpled bit 

 of tissue paper (to prevent the 

 shaking about of the insects 

 and to absorb moisture) and 

 the killing bottle is ready for 

 use. It should be kept tightly 

 corked. Insects caught with 

 the net or with the hands have 

 simply to be dropped into the 

 killing bottle and the deadly 



Hig. 10. Kiiuug bottle; cyanide of potassium hydrocyanic gas which fills the 

 at bottom, covered with plaster of Paris, bottle wiU kill them almost im- 

 mediately. The insects may be left in the bottle until the school- 

 room is reached, when they should betaken out and pinned up as 

 described later. The cyanide of potassium used in the killing 

 bottle is a deadly poison and the utmost care should be shown in 

 its use. Perhaps it will be advisable to have a druggist make the 

 bottles according to the above directions. Each bottle should be 

 marked "Poison," and the pupils warned not to inhale the gas 

 when the cork is removed. 



With collecting net and killing bottle, and a few small boxes 

 for live specimens, nests, etc., the insect collector is outfitted. In 

 collecting, visit flowers, turn over stones aud old logs, go into 



