I had a class on macroinvertibrates and the stream with Mark Van
Patten. I mentioned that I like to collect bugs for later fly tying.
He said that he doesn't use pure alcohol or "bug juice" anymore.
They've found out that a combination of water, alcohol and glycerin
makes the best mixture for your bug jar.
When they went out to try to find a source of glycerin, one google
search came back with hand sanitizer (Purel). It contains, guess
what, alcohol, water and glycerin. So that's what they now use. One
of the advantages is that you can push the (dead) bug down into the
Purel and it will stay right where you put it. You can arrange it so
you can see all sides of the bug.
Mark says that they have a jar with alcohol that they dip the bug in
til its dead, then they put it in the Purel. Keeps the color well
too.
Frank Reid