34 



ready to appropriate any animalcules that fortune might throw in the 

 way. 



Fig. a, shows the stick when packed up ; I, being a 

 wooden top, and m, a brass ferrule, both of which un- 

 screw. The cane being hollow, contains a smaller 

 one, also hollow, and in this smaller one is a slip of 

 thin whalebone. Fig. b, shows the brass end which is 



sm 



Fig. B. 



Fig. C. 



fitted on to the inner cane ; this brass piece having a 

 flat hole (shown at o), running longitudinally through 

 it ; also a small screw hole in the side (shown at p). 

 Fig. c, shows the brass ferrule detached from the 

 outer cane, and which is furnished with a small screw, 

 q, to fit the hole, p, in fig. b. The slip of whalebone 

 should (after being taken out) be folded with its two 

 ends together, and both of them be inserted into the 

 flat hole, fig. b, o, thus forming a hoop, fig. d, r, into 



Fig. D. 



which the neck of the bottle to be used is to be placed ; 



the whalebone is then to be pushed as far into the 



hole as it will go, and the screw, q, of the ferrule, 



fig. c, screwed into the small side hole, p. This will attach the 



bottle firmly to the stick, which can be used by itself or added to the 



outer cane to lengthen it, as occasion may require. 



Note by the Editor. 



At the succeeding meeting (November 22), the Assistant Secretary 

 produced and described an exceedingly simple modification of this 

 collecting-stick. It consists merely of a strip of thin whalebone, a 



