1879.] 
AMERICAN AG-RICIJETTTRIST. 
313 
ACROSTIC. 
1. One of the books of the Bible. 
2. One of the circles of the globe. 
3. One of the United States. 
4. A country of Europe. 
5. A continent of the eastern hemisphere. 
6. A far northern country. 
7. A city of the United States. 
8. A kingdom of Europe. 
9. A French word, meaning a jewel. 
10. A large river of North America. 
11. The capital of a Western State. 
12. A town in Indiana. 
13. A river on the border of the United States. 
The initials form the name of a well-known Statesman. 
O. L. Rice. 
SYNCOPATIONS. 
(Omit one letter from the original word— e. g., synco¬ 
pate a scow, and leave an animal. Answer —boat, bat.) 
1. Syncopate a bird and leave a domestic animal. 
2. Syncopate a vehicle and leave another domestic 
animal. 
3. Syncopate an article of food and leave an ornament. 
4. Syncopate another article of food and leave a house¬ 
hold article. 
5. Syncopate a measurer of time and leave a fowl. 
6. Syncopate distress and leave a household utensil. 
7. Syncopate a garment and leave a dwelling. 
8. Syncopate a burden and leave a boy. 
9. Syncopate a coin and leave a stamp. Isola. 
TRANSPOSITIONS. 
(Fill the blanks in each sentence with the same word 
transposed— e. g ., Be-and-to the music. Fill the 
first blank with “ silent,” and transpose it to “listen,” 
for the second blank.) 
1. I always made him a-of my-. 
2. Are you at the-still ? 
3. That——will-our dresses. 
4. I noticed her-as she-by. 
5. We heard the-plainly as we crossed the-. 
T. Aylor. 
AN ENIGMATICAL TEA-TABLE. 
1. A man mentioned in the Bible. 
2. What ladies dresses are sometimes made of, with 
the first letter changed. 
3. A letter of the alphabet. 
4. A mother and two boys. 
5. Part of a wagon. 
6. What invalids often have, and what they give the 
doctor. 
7. What you often do for amusement, with a primary 
letter added. 
8. An abbreviation of one of the United States, and 
some young ladies. 
9. A too) and some wise men. 
10. Two-thirds of what the sun sheds, and an impor¬ 
tant part of the tea-service. 
CONCEALED TREES. 
1. Johnnie, you arc splashing that water around, 
terribly 1 
2. It is rather overwhelming, I must confess. 
3. I thought I was doing it up in elegant style. 
4. If I grow too demonstrative you must chide me. 
5. It was the most popular church in the country. 
6. The pastor is now ill in Denmark. 
7. You will find Sam a pleasant companion. 
pi. 
ly, this paralyzes it so that it cannot fly, after which it 
may be taken in the hand and boxed. To kill insects I 
take a glass jar with screw top, and place in the bottom 
a lump of Cyanide of Potassium, as large as a Albert, 
pack a lot of paper over it to keep it in place, put in the 
Fig. 1.— SETTING BOARD. 
insects, and leave them from 15 to 30 minutes or more. 
[The Cyanide is used by photographers and others, and 
is sold by druggists in fragments looking somewhat like 
white marble. It is a most deadly poison, and should be 
used with a full knowledge of its dangerous qualities. 
When placed at the bottom of a jar and covered with 
paper, it will give off a deadly gas, and kill the insects 
placed within its reach. Ed.] Chloroform and Ether are 
nuisances, and should not be used, as insects killed with 
either of these are so rigid that it is almost impossible to 
set them. I enclose rough sketches of my way of set¬ 
ting. I make my boards as follows: Take a pine board 
about one foot square, and f- inch think, cut grooves 
through it as shown in fig. 1. A strip of wood the length 
of the width of the board, and H inch wide, is nailed 
edgewise, across the grain of the board, and about half an 
inch from the edge, to form legs, and also to prevent the 
board from warping. A sectional side view of one of these 
setting boards is shown in fig. 2. On the underside, over 
the grooves tack strips of cork to receive the pins which 
should be stuck down through the cork so that about [ 
of an inch of the pin projects above tbe insect. Having 
pinned the insect in the groove, spread the wings by 
means of “setting needles,” (which are common stout 
needles forced eye foremost into slender pine handles), 
and place strips of cardboard or other smooth paper over 
the wings, and confine by pins as shown in the engrav¬ 
ing, giving the wings the proper position with the set¬ 
ting needles. On large specimens another, and wider, 
strip should be 
jiff ' |!jf| placed over the 
11 IS wings to keep 
Fig. 3.— SETTING BOARD, side vraw. them from curl- 
A roalpup tewrir, askpegin fo bet canoe lagphrete, red- 
snow therhew hot snew own metitstraud hurthog liet 
tals treaw liwl eb shref. 
ANSWERS TO PUZZLES IN THE JUNE NUMBER. 
Drop-Letter Puzzle.— 1. Myrmidon. 2. Judicature. 3. 
Haversack. 4. Serpentine. 5. Treacherous. 6. Frankincense. 
Pi.—Glycerine is a substance contained in the fat of ani¬ 
mals, and also in some vegetable substances, from which it 
is separated by chemical processes. 
Numerical Enigmas.— 1. Infelice. By Miss Augusta J. 
Evans. 2. Grieving for misfortunes is adding gall to worm¬ 
wood. 
Anagrams.— 1. Wearisome. 2. Disobedience. 3. Ejacu¬ 
lates. 4. Escapade. 5. Imprisonment. 6. Greediness. 7. 
Particular. 8. Chrysalis. 9. Indomitable. 10 Malevolent. 
A Metagram Puzzle.— Tbe central word is “Prospect," 
from which may be made the various things illustrated 
around it—post, store, rose, top, props, rope, cot, and pot. 
Metagram.— Town : from which may be made the words 
—on, to, ton, two, won, no, not, own, tow, wot, now. 
Scattered Square. ' 
FARE 
AREA 
REA R 
EARS 
Cross - Words. — 1. New 
York. 2. Machpelah. 
Easy Rhymes.— Lad, clad, 
bail, dad, mad, sad, glad, 
brad, gad. 
Charade.— Dogma. 
Puzzles, answers, and such matters as were formerly 
directed to “ Aunt Sue,” may hereafter be sent to “ The 
Doctor,” No. 245 Broadway, New York. 
How to Collect ISiittcrllics. 
We have already had something about preserving but¬ 
terflies, aDd now Mr. E. J. Smith, of Natick, Mass., 
sends his methods, which will be useful to those who 
wish to make specimens of the destructive or harmless 
species. He writes as follows: “To capture butterflies, 
I use a net made thus: take an iron or brass wire about 
Vuth inch in diameter, aud bend it into a circle about 
one foot in diameter, and twist the ends together to form 
a handle about four inches long; this is to be inserted in 
a hole bored in the end of a stick, which should be from 
4 to 6 ft. long. The net is of mosquito-netting, or mus¬ 
lin, about 2 ft. deep, and tapered to about 6 inches iu 
diameter at the bottom. In capturing, the net is thrown 
over the insect, and by a turn of the wrist the bottom of 
the net is thrown across the mouth, thus closing it. 
Wait until the insect stops fluttering—which a butterfly 
will soon do,—resting with the wings closed over the 
back; grasp the insect under the wings, and pinch firm¬ 
ing iu drying. AU specimens should remain on the 
boards at least a week, and large ones from 2 to 4 weeks 
or even more. If removed too soon, the wings will sag, 
or warp. Young collectors should especially bear in 
mind never to touch a butterfly’s wings with the fingers, 
but in handling always take them by the thorax, under 
the wings. I think the use of threads over tbe wings, as 
mentioned by your correspondent, would be likely to rub 
or deface the iusect, besides they would not hold so 
smoothly as paper. Pins should never be stuck through 
the wings, as they deface the specimen. I keep my set- 
No, 469. Illustrated Rebus,-An old say¬ 
ing, or at least a part of one, that we often hear. 
ting boards in a “ drying case,” (fig. 3), which is a case 
with a frame door covered with wire gauze to exclude 
insects, and admit air. The boards are placed one above 
another, like shelves, strips of wood being nailed to the 
sides of the case to support them, as shown in the en¬ 
graving. After insects are dry, they should be placed in 
air-tight boxes with glass covers, and a small piece of a 
sponge kept wet with creosote should be placed in each 
box to keep out destructive insects, which would other¬ 
wise injure them. Camphor should not be used for this 
purpose, as it is injurious to the specimens. A case of 
shallow drawers, about two inches deep, and made to 
take 12x16 inch glass, is very good, to keep insects in. 
Butterflies should be kept in the dark, as light injures 
them. Butterflies intended for exchange with other col¬ 
lectors should not he set, but dried with closed wings, 
and placed in small paper envelopes. They may he set 
at any time by placing the envelopes in a dish of damp 
sand, covered air tight, and allowed to remain for two 
or three days. Insect-pins may be purchased of tax¬ 
idermists and others for about $1.25 per thousand, 
and are vastly better than common pins for all insects. 
N. B. Caution. —All our talk about catching and pre¬ 
serving butterflies and other insects lias heretofore ap¬ 
peared in tbe Boys and Girls’ Columns, for tbe reason 
that tbe questions Concerning them have come from the 
older boys and girls. Some do not like tbe idea of en¬ 
couraging children to take life. But it must be remember- 
Fig. 3.— DRYING CASE. 
ed that the most beautiful butterflies and mollis arc, in 
their caterpillar state, exceedingly destructive to plants ; 
besides this, they naturally live but a few days, and then 
die a lingering death with broken an 1 torn wings, and if 
we can give them a sudden and painless death, there is 
no cruelty exercised. But our trouble with this article 
is, that it advises the use of Cyanide of Potassium, which 
is a very dangerous poison. If a lump of it be placed iu 
the bottom of a jar or wide-mouthed bottle, and kept 
there , well covered with paper pressed down over it, no 
harm can come of it. The vapor it gives off kills the in¬ 
sects. The article should not be handled, or removed in 
any manner, but kept for this purpose aloue with the 
full knowledge that it is poisonous. So we say to every 
hoy and girl disposed to try it, show this article to your 
parents, and if they approve, all right. If they say “ No ” 
—let that settle it. But first be sure and ask your parents. 
Tlie Trapper CsnigTit. 
Last month I gave you some of my experience in trap¬ 
ping woodchucks, which resulted, as you may recollect, 
in an outgo of some of the traps with which the wood¬ 
chucks had nothing to do. Not to he discouraged by 
anything so trivial as a failure, I turned my attention the 
next season towards another race of animals which 
abounded in our neighborhood, and, like the woodchuck, 
was also a nuisance, though not so great a one as the 
woodchuck, aud withal a wild beast of more gentle habits, 
less knowing in those things which oppose the success 
of the youthful hunter, and therefore the easier to he led 
into a trap. These tender creatures—of course, I am 
talking about hares, but as every one in the country calls 
them rabbits, I shall be obliged, in order to be. under¬ 
stood, to say “rabbits” too—hut, nevertheless, they are 
hares.—Well, these animals, which as far as their ears go 
(and they go a good ways sometimes), are rivals of a 
much larger and sterner animal, often used as a beast of 
burden and more noted for the lightness and activity of 
its hind legs, upon the least, provocation, than for the 
highest type of wisdom. Some people, who are more 
otherwise than wise, claim that there is a jealousy between 
rabbits and mules, but this I do not believe, because all 
this about the subject of ears is pure and simple hearsay. 
However gentle and timid the rabbit may be, they have 
teeth aud know how to use them, especially upon young 
trees. The orchards had been badly injured the winter 
before, aud this trouble must be stopped. The word had 
