PRESERVATION OF COLEOPTERA. it 
simple. Perhaps the most important is a good stout alpaca 
umbrella, which should be used in this way :—On arrival at the 
collecting ground it should be opened, inverted, and held in such 
a position that the insects, shaken or dislodged off plants by 
being beaten with a stick three or four feet long, fall into the net 
thus formed. When thus caught, they must be immediately 
secured, the larger ones being transferred to a wzde-mouthed 
bottle containing bruised laurel leaves, or, if these cannot be ob- 
tained, some sawdust and two or three lumps of cyanide of 
potassium (poison). On returning home, the beetles should be 
picked out by emptying the whole contents on a sheet of paper; 
but if they are to be sent away to be named, they ought to be 
placed in another bottle, containing some bruised or chopped up 
laurel leaves, because, when so treated, they keep in good con- 
dition for three or four weeks, and so relaxed that the mouth 
and limbs of each insect can be easily opened out for examina- 
tion. The smaller insects should be taken out of the umbrella 
and put into a separate bottle. I find a camomile-pill bottle the 
most useful for that purpose, it fits easily into the waistcoat 
pocket ; but the cork should be perforated so that a stout quill 
two or three inches in length may pass through it and project, in 
order to form a tube or scoop. The mouth of the quill is placed 
over an insect, the bottle inclined upwards, and it slides down, 
It will be evident that without some killing mixture the insects 
would soon destroy one another when in the bottle; saw-dust 
will not answer the purpose very well, as it occasions a great deal 
of subsequent labour when picking them out, besides which it is 
almost certain, in the hands of an inexperienced collector, to re- 
sult in the loss of many of the more minute species, and, more- 
over, most of them will be covered with the fine dust which will 
tenaciously adhere and be extremely difficult to remove after- 
wards. I find the best plan is to use bruised laurel, and I in- 
variably manage matters thus :—For such a bottle, I take three 
or four leaves, hold them flat on the side of an axe laid on the 
floor, and with the back of a tomahawk or hammer pound away 
along the edges of the leaves until they are reduced to a pulp, 
this is then rammed into the bottle with a pencil until the top of 
the pulp forms a tolerably smooth surface. The insects can thus 
be almost instantly killed, will be quite clean, soft and easily 
manipulated. The process may seem rather formidable at first 
sight, but with a little practice the operator will easily prepare 
such a collecting bottle in ten minutes, the pulp remains good 
for a fortnight, and, if not strong enough after that, one bruised 
leaf will make it so; but it must be borne in mind that the 
pulp should be renewed at least once a month. 
For dealing with logs, a tomahawk is required ; it should fit 
into a leathern case, and be secured by a belt round the waist. 
Some localities are more favourable than others. If possible, 
a clearing in the forest should be selected, but even a pathway 
will suffice, provided there is room enough to open the umbrella. 
All the native plants, half-rotten branches of trees, and even 
