. Bulletin - United States National Museum. Science. [65] COLLECTING AND PRESERVING INSECTS ,<^- Some prefer to piu the paper coutaining- the cyanide to the lower surface of the cork. The latter should be rather short aud tapering toward its lower end. It is longitudinally perforated through its center by a round hole just large enough to insert a goose-quill, which is cut straight at the lower end aud obliquely at its upper end. By means of this goose-quill the specimens may be introduced into the bottle without taking off" the cork. This form of cyanide bottle lasts for only
. Bulletin - United States National Museum. Science. [65] COLLECTING AND PRESERVING INSECTS ,<^- Some prefer to piu the paper coutaining- the cyanide to the lower surface of the cork. The latter should be rather short aud tapering toward its lower end. It is longitudinally perforated through its center by a round hole just large enough to insert a goose-quill, which is cut straight at the lower end aud obliquely at its upper end. By means of this goose-quill the specimens may be introduced into the bottle without taking off" the cork. This form of cyanide bottle lasts for only one day's collecting, except in cold weather, and in very warm weather it is advisable to take two prepared bottles along, so that the first used can be stowed away as soon as the cyanide begins to moisten the paper strips. Most insects are quickly killed in such a bottle, but some Coleoptera must be left in for five or six hours, while others resist death for a still longer time. This is especially true of the Coleopterous families Curculionidae, Tro- gositidfe, and Tenebrionidse. Submersion in alcohol will prove a satis- factory method of killing these or other bee- tles with similar vitality. Other Agents.—Prof. E. W. Claypole has found the use of benzine or gasoline very cheap and satisfactory for killing Lepidop- tera, as the largest are at once killed thereby without injury to their scales. {Can. Unt., xix, p. 136.) He squirts it onto the specimen within the net or in the oi^en air by means of a druggist's dropping tube. Hot water kills rapidly and leaves the specimens in good flexible condition for mounting. The heads of large insects may be held for a few moments in the water, while smaller sj)ecimens should first be thrown into a corked bottle and the bottle submitted to heat. Where the laurel grows its bruised leaves maybe used in place of cyamde; they kill less quickly. The leaves of the Laurel-cherry {Prtinus lauro- eerasus), a plant commonly grown in England for
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Keywords: ., bookauthorun, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectscience
