. Australian insects. Insects. COLLECTING AND TRESERVING. ^^97 sheet spread under the bushes, aud the whole tree beateu and shaken. This method in suitable country has its advantages. The killing- bottles come next in importance, and the tirst and most commonly used is the cyanide bottle. An empty 1 oz. quinine bottle makes one of a very serviceable size, but any other light wide-mouthed bottle will answer the purpose. Place a piece of cyanide of potassium about li/^ inches square and I/2 an inch in thickness at the bottom of the bottle, and then pour in enough liquid plaster of Paris to embed
. Australian insects. Insects. COLLECTING AND TRESERVING. ^^97 sheet spread under the bushes, aud the whole tree beateu and shaken. This method in suitable country has its advantages. The killing- bottles come next in importance, and the tirst and most commonly used is the cyanide bottle. An empty 1 oz. quinine bottle makes one of a very serviceable size, but any other light wide-mouthed bottle will answer the purpose. Place a piece of cyanide of potassium about li/^ inches square and I/2 an inch in thickness at the bottom of the bottle, and then pour in enough liquid plaster of Paris to embed and cover it; drain oft' any surplus moisture with blotting paper; and when the plaster is set hard, close the bottle with a tight-fitting cork. It is an advantage to coat the top of the cork with red sealing-wax, so that if it is dropped or left behind, the bright cork will make it more conspicuous. Young collectors may get the insects covered with particles of damp plaster and perhaps spoilt; to prevent this, the plaster should be covered with scraps of paper, moss, dry Fig- 177.—Class-bottomed Box, handy for catching small moths. grass, or some such material, to absorb the moisture and keep the specimens clean. The dead insects should always be turned out of the cyanide killing bottle on returning from a day's hunt, for if kept long in the bottle they will often become more or less discoloured. A killing bottle favoured by museum and professional collectors is a similar bottle, but, instead of using cyanide, a pad of cotton wool is placed in the bottom, on to which some chloroform is poured to charge the bottle. But when collecting is brisk and the cork constantly being taken out for fresh captures, the chloroform evaporates, and the bottle must be re-charged at intervals. When one is col- lecting different kinds of small specimens it is advisable to carry several small tubes charged with chloroform, and if a circular pad of blotting paper be carefully cut and pressed dow
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