1Q2 BOAKD OF AGRICULTURE. 



In studying these insects the best generic characters will b,e 

 found in the antennae, the shape of the head parts, the neuration 

 and proportions of the wings. Very slight changes in these parts 

 separate genera. Size and coloration, which are very constant, 

 afford good specific characters. 



The caterpillars, chrysalids and perfect insects, besides being 

 preserved dry, should be collected largely in alcohol. In collecting 

 them to pin dry w« must remember that the least touch will remove 

 some of the scales from the wings and bodies, thus injuring them 

 for study and spoiling their looks. The collector should have the 

 ring net, the beating net, plenty of pill boxes, a large box lined with 

 cork to pin his captures into, which should have pinned in the bot- 

 tom a sponge saturated with benzine, (which is the cheapest poison,) 

 and though after frequent airing the box loses the strong odor, yet 

 there is enough left to keep the specimens from fluttering, until 

 more can be applied at home. This box should be small enough to 

 slip into the coat pocket, and with the cover made to open easily 

 with one hand. A bottle of alcohol is needed about the person for 

 the reception of duplicates, larvge, &c. Pins of various sizes should 

 be carried in a cushion suspended from the neck or from a button- 

 hole. The best insect pin is that of German make The different 

 sizes can be had of F. W. Christern, 16S Broadway, and Theodor 

 Schreckel, 14 North William street. New York. Two sizes, No. 2 

 and 5, which come done up in square packages of five hundred pins 

 each, will do for the majority of insects, the larger for butterflies 

 and Sphinges, Noctuae and Geometry, while for the micro-lepidop- 

 tera smaller pins are needed, which will be mentioned further on 

 when speaking of them more specially. The net most convenient 

 is a sugar-loaf-shaped bag of silken gauze (which can be bought 

 as cheaply as muslin or musquito-netting, and does much better,) 

 fastened to a margin of cloth sewed previously onto the ring. The 

 net should be made a foot and a half deep, attached to a frame of stout 

 brass wire twelve inches across, which should be soldered on to a 

 tube half an inch or so in diameter, into which a slender stick six feet 

 long can be thrust. A light net like this can be rapidly turned 

 upon the insect with one hand. The beating net is stouter and 

 made of thick muslin, and fastened on to a short stick. It is used 

 for beating bushes and herbage for moths and their larvjB. It can be 

 also used for collecting all other insects. In this connection should 

 be mentioned the water net, (Pig. 10,) which may be round, or of 



