with the
open mouth of B, and rapidly cover him with it. The moth, or what not,
as a matter of course, flies toward the light which is at the bottom
of the bottle, A; directly it has done so you push in the diaphragm,
which of course effectually bottles him up. Now enter the cork in the
mouth, B, and pull out the diaphragm again to allow the cork to pass
to its place in the mouth of the cyanide bottle, which stopping is of
course fatal to the insect.

Fig. 54--Sugaring drum.

The "sugaring drum" referred to is thus described and figured by Dr.
-Knaggs; and it will be seen that in its main principle it is similar
to my diaphragm bottle, sans cyanide:

"This is a hollow metal tube of two or three inches diameter, over one
end of which a piece of gauze has been strained, while at the other
end a valve, to open and shut the mouth, works in a transverse slit
(shown in Fig. 54). To use it we open the valve and deftly place the
mouth of the drum over the insect which, in nineteen cases out of
twenty, flies towards the gauze. We then seize the opportunity to
close the valve, and pushing the corked piston represented at the
right side of the figure against it, once more open the valve, and
force the capture up to the gauze, through which it may be pinned, and
the piston should then be withdrawn with the insect stuck upon it."

After all, I like nothing so well as working two or three large
cyanide bottles in this manner: Get some 6 oz. or 8 oz. bottles, with
as large mouths as possible--a confectioner's small and strong glass
jar is about as good a thing as you can get. To this have a cork, cut
as tightly as possible, sloping outwards above the bottle some little
distance, to afford a good grip. Fill with cyanide as before directed,
putting in enough to make the bottles work quickly. When you see one
of the restless hovering kind of insects at your sugar, aim at him
stealthily, as it were, with the mouth of your bottle, and when near
enough rapidly close the mouth over him--ten to one he flies to the
light, and with a little management you can contrive to get the bottle
recorked. Let him remain in the bottle until stupefied, meanwhile
using another bottle. When this is tenanted and the insect drops,
gently shake him into the first bottle, using the last to capture the
next insect, and so on. By using three bottles you can always have one
disengaged, and the bottled insects can thus be allowed to remain a
sufficient time to