HOW TO COLLECT 
86 
In dEdes, JEdeomyia, and Uranotcenia the palpi are short in both 
sexes, but the plumose antennae will separate <$ from ?. 
Method of Collecting and Killing. 
Mosquitoes may be captured in the open; an entomologist’s 
collecting-net is then necessary, from which the insects can be 
transferred to glass-bottomed pill-boxes. In doing this great care 
must be taken not to pull off the legs. Inside buildings mosquitoes 
can easily be captured on walls and windows in the pill-boxes them¬ 
selves. Specimens are, however, best obtained in good condition by 
breeding them ; this can readily be done by keeping the larvae or 
pupae in a basin or jar of water covered over with book-muslin. In 
any case mosquitoes are best collected alive in the glass-bottomed 
pill-boxes ( see p. 51). Not more than a single specimen should be 
put alive in each box. To kill the mosquitoes the box is opened a 
fraction of an inch on one side, and placed for a few minutes in 
a cyanide killing-jar ( see p. 51), which must, of course, be closed. 
They may also be killed by tobacco smoke or chloroform. If cyanide 
or tobacco smoke is used, they should not be left in the fumes more 
than ten minutes. As soon as the insects are quite dead they 
should be turned out on to a sheet of cork-carpet; they should be 
touched as little as possible, the manipulations necessary for arrang¬ 
ing the wings and legs being performed with a needle. 
To Pin a Mosquito. 
Take a card disc (a), and write on its underside the data connected 
with the specimen to be pinned, such as (1) name of locality. 
including altitude if known; (2) date —day, month, year—thus’ 
6.3.06; (3) collectors name ; (4) any remark of interest , e.g. 
“Most troublesome species in district,” or attach these remarks 
to the label (b). Place the disc on a sheet of cork-carpet; then 
pick up one of the fine No. 20 pins (c), and thrust about one-third 
of an inch of it through the disc. The pin must be held with the 
forceps near the point, and upright, otherwise it will bend. Lay 
the specimen on its back (turning it over with the aid of a needle), 
