84 
HINTS TO THAVHLLEHS. 
trading settlement. A good supply of the best caps and a few spafd 
nipples should be taken, as also the following articles :— 
Arsenical soap in tin boxes; brushes of different sizes for applying 
the same; a small supply of carbolic acid, and a few insect “ killing 
bottles”* Bottle of rangoon oil. Scalpels, scissors (including a pair 
of short-bladed ones), needles and thread. Long straight forceps 
(similar in form to curling irons), very useful for inserting cotton 
into the necks of bird-skins, to avoid stretching them; of two or three 
sizes. Bone nippers and screw-driver. 
A few small traps, with which to capture small (mostly nocturnal) mam¬ 
mals. The “ Excelsior ” and “ Premier ” traps, always set and baited, 
are recommended, as they capture small mammals without injuring 
them. For spring traps the “ American wire-trap ” is to be preferred, as 
it is very light and of different sizes, and a large number weigh little 
and occupy small space. 
Stone jars for reptiles and fishes in spirit; to fit four in a box, with 
wooden partitions. If animals in spirit are to be collected largely, the 
tin collecting-case described further on, and a supply of sheet-tin or zinc, 
with a pair of soldering-irons and a sufficient quantity of soft solder, must 
be taken instead of, or in addition to, stone jars. Cylindrical cases can 
then be made of any size required. By means of the soldering apparatus 
also empty powder-canisters, and other tin vessels, can be easily converted 
into receptacles for specimens. 
A short landing-net for water-molluscs and other small aquatic animals. 
A stout hoop-net (the stick 4 or 5 feet long crossing the hoop) for cap¬ 
turing insects on the wing and for sweeping herbage for Coleoptera, &c.; 
a few yards of silk gauze for nets in reserve. 
* These bottles are for collecting all kinds of hard-bodied insects on an 
excursion, and should be of a size to fit the pocket, strong, and with broad 
mouths. The insecticide paste adhering to the bottom can be easily made by the 
traveller. A pellet of cyanide of potassium (the size of a pea) must be dissolved 
in water in the bottle, and sufficient powdered plaster of Paris mixed with it 
until the water is absorbed, when the whole should be pressed down into a hard cake 
an inch in thickness. A simpler plan is, a pellet of cyanide wrapped in paper 
placed in the bottle half full of coarse-grained sawdust; at a pinch, a small 
quantity of spirits in the bottle will do; but the insects must on no account be 
left more than a day or two in the spirit. 
