1 8 NATURALISTS' ASSISTANT. 



readily understood, after a few minutes' study of one thus 

 prepared ; and therefore all who wish to articulate artificial 

 skeletons are respectfully requested to obtain the requisite 

 knowledge by observation. Great care, however, should 

 be exercised that none of the small bones be lost in the 

 process of maceration. 



COLLECTING INSECTS. 



Insects are the most numerous both in individuals and in 

 species of any group of the animal kingdom and may be 



found almost everywhere 

 and at every season of the 

 year. Their beauty, their 

 numbers, and the ease 

 with which they may be 

 collected and preserved, 

 render them great favor- 

 FlG -4- ites. Many a naturalist, 



who has acquired prominence, traces his studies to the 

 collections of insects made in his youth. 



The insect collector needs certain pieces of apparatus 

 none of them expensive and all easily made by one possess- 

 ing an ordinary an ount of mechanical skill, or they may be 

 readily procured in the shops. Those most essential are 

 insect nets, means of killing, and conveniences for carrying 

 the specimens home. 



An insect net, fig. 4, is readily made by taking a stout brass 

 wire (iron rusts too readily) and bending it into a ring about 



