HINTS ON COLLECTING 
27 
Setting-board, showing correct curve for 
British Butterflies. 
cane frame of four joints 
(for taking to pieces), a 
brass Y-piece for taking 
the two ends of the 
frame and the handle, 
and the bag, made of 
leno or other fine netting 
or gauze, either green 
or black, according to 
choice. 
Killing Bottle. The second necessary article is a killing 
bottle. This consists of a wide-mouthed glass bottle with a 
perfectly air-tight bung or stopper, and at the bottom of the 
bottle a layer of cyanide of potassium (highly poisonous) is 
placed, and is then covered with a layer of plaster of Paris, 
which should be poured over the cyanide and allowed to set 
hard, leaving the bottle uncorked for twelve hours to allow 
the plaster to harden. Then cover the plaster with a pad 
of cotton-wool to prevent the specimens from getting 
damaged. The killing bottle 
can readily be made up by 
most chemists. 
As soon as an insect is 
captured, it may be immedi¬ 
ately killed in the cyanide 
bottle and there kept until 
taken home and transferred 
to the relaxing tin, in which 
it may be kept until set. 
Another method is to place 
the captures direct from the 
net into glass - bottomed 
pocket boxes and to keep 
them in these until they are 
killed and set. These pocket 
boxes are of numerous dif¬ 
ferent sizes, and are nested. 
The most satisfactory 
method of killing is with the 
cyanide bottle. As soon as 
Diagram of wings of the Swallow¬ 
tail Butterfly, showing the nervures or 
veins and general structure. 
