Kill Bugs Fast

[Mark Walker]

	Kenelm wrote:

> > I have noticed that my Frits and other large Nymphalids tend to be
> greasy
> > when left in ethyl acetate killing jars for extended periods.
> 
> What is an 'extended period'? My 'mass execution' method using the coffee
> can to dispatch one's entire daily catch involves leaving the specimens
> exposed to the vapor for about an hour, and I have had no greasing
> problems
> with the largest Nymphalids that Alaska can offer. I just looked at some
> _N. antiopa_ from 1966--no greasing that I could see. And these have been
> in a cabinet with PDB--a fumigating agent which may also be implicated in
> the 'greasing' phenomenon.
> 
	An extended period in this context is more on the order of 4 hours.
The result of forgetting that the specimen has been left in the killing jar,
usually.  

> > Four ounces will last me most of a week.
> 
> The coffee can method requires surprisingly little ethyl acetate. A
> 6-ounce
> bottle will last an entire month of active collecting. A few squirts of
> a medicine dropper on the sponge is enough--and since you do this only
> once
> a day you get good mileage...
> 
	Yep, I agree that your technique is an even better way to save the
ethyl acetate.  In fact, I also use the coffee can approach for mass killing
(pleasant subject) when away from a freezer for days at a time.  I don't
pinch, though, so I use the stuff to get the Leps into the envelopes to
begin with.  

	Mark Walker.