a
cyanide bottle. I have one down at the cabin. It must be kept tightly
corked and never smelled. The cyanide in the bottle is hard and dry.
Several insects may be put into the bottle at the same time. Once there
they die very quickly. After large insects are killed the wings should
be folded over the back, and they should be placed in a little case like
this. See, I'm folding a piece of paper to form a three-cornered case.
Then I bend down one edge to keep the little case closed."

At this moment out flew Lizzie with a curtain which she was going to
shake.

"Here, here!" shouted the old man, "don't shake that; catch that
caterpillar on it. I want it."

Lizzie made a good-natured grab at the caterpillar, and then there was a
cry of pain. "Oh, begorra, begorra, I'm stung by a wasp, I am! Ow!" But
she still kept tight hold of the caterpillar as she danced about.

"No," said the guide, "you're not stung by any wasp. Bring me that!
There, open your hand. You see, the caterpillar stung you."

"Oh my, what a beauty!" exclaimed the children. "But caterpillars don't
sting."

"Oh yes, they do," continued Ben Gile, with a twinkle in his eye; "ask
Lizzie." Lizzie was looking at the palm of her hand, which showed how
badly it had been stung.

"Now, you see, we'll need something to pick up these little creatures
with--a pair of forceps or something of that kind. At least, you must be
very careful."

"And what else do we need?" asked the children.

"A little hand lens will magnify the small parts of an insect a great
deal. It will show you all the tiny hairs on the body, and the little
rings and the feelers and the facets of the eyes, and many another
wonderful thing."

"What are we going to put the bugs in?" inquired Jimmie.

"Lizzie will get you a small wooden box," said Mrs. Reece.

Lizzie went off grumbling something about guides and bites and insects,
but soon she came back with a nice box, and in a minute all the
children's heads were clustered about Ben Gile as he showed them how to
line the box with a layer of cork, how to steam the insects a little if
they were dry, and then how to put the long, slender pins through the
chest of the insect and stick it into the cork.

III

THE LITTLE ARMY

Ben Gile shook his head. As his hair was long and white, and his hands
moved with his head, just as if he were a lot of dried branches moving
in the wind, it was enough to frighten little Betty. "Plagues of Egyp