COLLECTION AND PRESERVATION OF INSECTS 7 



Care and Use 



The killing bottle will last longer and give better results if the fol- 

 lowing simple rules are observed : 



1. Before using the cyanide bottle, put in a few strips of soft paper. Ordinary 

 toilet paper is excellent. This will help keep the bottle dry and will keep the 

 specimens from mutilating one another. Change these strips whenever they 

 become soiled or slightly moist. Wipe out the bottle if it becomes moist. 



2. Keep a special bottle for moths and butterflies. The scales from these insects 

 will stick to other insects and spoil them. 



3. Never put small or delicate insects in the same bottle with large insects such 

 as grasshoppers and large beetles. Beetles are hard to kill and must be left in 

 the killing bottle longer than most other insects. 



4. Never overload a bottle, and always remove insects from the cyanide bottle 

 as soon as they are dead. 



5. Discard or recharge bottles that no longer kill quickly. Dispose of the con- 

 tents of old cyanide bottles by burning or burying. 



Many insects should not be killed in a killing bottle but should be 

 placed in 70-percent alcohol or some other fluid. These insects are 

 discussed in more detail later in this bulletin. For these insects the 

 collector should have a supply of small homeopathic vials of various 

 sizes with corks to fit. 



Figure 3. — Aspirator, or suction bottle : A, Vial-type aspirator assembled ; B, 

 details of stopper assemblage for vial-type aspirator, showing outlet tube flush 

 with surface of stopper ; C, attachment for collecting tiny insects with an ordi- 

 nary aspirator ; D, body of tube-type aspirator ; E, details of construction to 

 convert an aspirator to the blow type. 



ASPIRATOR, OR SUCTION BOTTLE 



The aspirator is a convenient device for collecting small insects, 

 either from the beating net or beating cloth or directly from under 

 stones, bark, etc. Its construction is rather simple and needs little 

 discussion. For the type illustrated in figure 3, A, the following 

 materials are needed : 



