CHAP. X. | How to Preserve. 179 
he apologized to her for the trouble he had caused her, 
and then he departed homeward—a sadder if not a wiser 
man. 
After this adventure he never again resorted to chzp- 
boxes. He used little bottles for holding beetles and vari- 
ous insects. He had also a light, flat box, about nine 
inches square, for containing the more fragile portion of 
the insect tribe, such as butterflies and moths. Before he 
pinned them down, he gave them a drop of chloroform to 
put them to sleep, and prevent them destroying their beau- 
tiful plumage. When he met these tender creatures repos- 
ing on a flower, he would always, if possible, drop a little 
chloroform upon them, and thus end their struggles. Then 
he boxed them. By this means he secured many splendid 
specimens. 
His hat was also an excellent insect-box, and a convenient 
receptacle for many things. He had a false crown put in 
the upper part of it, well stored with pins. And even when 
he went out to walk with his wife and children, he would 
occupy part of his time in looking for and storing up moths 
and butterflies, so that not an opportunity nor a moment’s 
time was lost.. 
He carried his caterpillars in a tin box, with several com- 
partments; and his snails in a similar box of smaller di- 
mensions. His eggs, after being emptied, were put into a 
sort of canister; and being well packed with cotton wool, 
they very seldom broke, although he carried them about 
with him for days together. 
Whenever he shot a bird or animal, his first business was 
to fill up the mouth and nostrils with cotton wadding, and 
then to search for the wounds and fill them up. By this 
means he always got his specimens home clean. This he 
found to be indispensably necessary with sea- birds, if he 
wished to bring them home unsoiled. 
Being unable to purchase presses for his plants, he used 
heavy flat stones, and boxes filled with gravel and dry sand. 
