324 TAXIDERMY AND ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING. 



pantaloons, a similar jar in the left-hand pocket for hyrnen- 

 optera and diptera. In the right-hand pocket of the sack-coat 

 should be carried the large jar for killing- lepidoptera, and in 

 the left-hand pocket a smaller jar for neuroptera and orthop- 

 tera. Thus arrayed the collector is completely furnished for 

 the chase. It will, however, be well for him, if he can, to secure 

 the attendance of an assistant to carry some of his " traps " and 

 assist him. We will now go out with him into the field and 

 give him a few practical instructions as to the best mode of 

 procedure. 



First of all, it is proper to observe that it is advisable not to 

 be in a hurry and not to rush over the ground. The represen- 

 tations in comic newspapers of the entomologist, wildly tearing 

 about the fields and in mad haste chasing a butterfly over hills 

 and meadows, are not drawn from a study of the methods of ex- 

 perts. " All things come to him who waits." Slyness, cool- 

 ness, a keen eye, and adroit quickness in the use of the net are 

 the qualities which yield the largest returns to the collector. 

 In the use of the net the habits of insects must be noted. 

 Those which alight upon the ground or low herbage may be 

 caught by clapping the net over them. Most butterflies and 

 moths have the habit, when caught, of flying upward in the net. 

 Therefore so soon as the insect, if a lepidopteron, is enclosed in 

 the net, hold up the closed end of the sack, and, introducing 

 the poison jar, from which the stopper has been removed, take 

 the insect. A little practice will soon enable the collector to 

 do this without allowing the fly to beat and in jure its wings, and 

 without touching them in the least with the fingers. (Plate 

 XXIII., Fig. 1.) A convenient way of securing small insects in 

 the net is by a rapid motion hither and thither, with the mouth 

 open to the wind, to drive them back into the bottom of the 

 sack, and then to place this in the bottle and leave it there a few 

 seconds until the insects are stunned, when they may be shaken 

 into the jar. When the insect alights within reach upon the 

 ends of branches or the tops of flowering plants, it may bo 

 swept into the net by a dexterous movement and thus secured. 

 A similar stroke will often, when well aimed, secure specimens 

 riving past the station of the collector. (Plate XXIII., Fig. 2.) 

 Beetles and insects of other orders than the lepidoptera may be 



