DIRECTIONS FOR COLLECTING INSECTS 



I. Materials. — At the beginning of his work in Zoology 

 the student should provide himself with the following arti- 

 cles and should keep them in proper condition and repair : 



(i) A Cyanide Bottle. — This is made by putting a 

 lump of cyanide of potassium, twice the size of a grain of 

 corn, into any wide-mouthed bottle, covering with water 

 and stirring in eriough plaster of Paris to make it hard 

 and firm. After this has dried for an hour, put in a piece 

 of cotton and keep the bottle ever afterwards tightly corked. 



(2) Forceps. — A pair of forceps of steel or wire should 

 be provided for collecting spiders, bumble bees and wasps. 



(3) An Insect Net. — A net for collecting butterflies 

 and dredging ponds may be made by bending a stout quar- 

 ter-inch wire into a circle about one foot in diameter, leaving 

 enough at the ends to be fastened on a wooden stick three 

 to five feet long. Over this stretch a flour sack or a piece 

 of mosquito netting. 



(4) Spreading Board. — It may be made of two pieces 

 of thin whitewood or pine board, fastened together by 

 braces, especially at the ends, and left wide enough apart 

 to admit the bodies of the insects to be spread ; strips of cork 

 or pith, in which to fasten the pins, may then be tacked 

 or glued below so as to cover the intervening space. The 



IS 



