GENERAL FEATURES 41 



A name, or the lack of it never makes or unmakes a species or 

 a variety. If a certain butterfly is a species, it will continue to be 

 a species through the ages to come, whether you, or I, or the next 

 man may consider it so or not. Butterflies have a way of doing 

 as Nature teaches them, and the best that man can do is to accom- 

 modate himself to the facts of the case, and not try to make the 

 butterflies fit themselves to his own peculiar opinions or wishes. 

 Some men known possibly to this generation have come to grief 

 and ridicule by not heeding this precept. On the other hand, a fact 

 will stand, whether the first statement of it be believed or not: 

 "Time at last sets all things even." And on this rock have I built 

 this book. 



§ 45. Collecting Butterflies. 



The tools and appliances required may be rough and crude, or 

 elaborate and complete, according to the amount of work pro- 

 posed. The best are the cheapest, in this pursuit, as in other 

 things. But, w-hether crude or elaborate, taste, and a dainty hand- 

 ling are imperative. And a plenty of these will overcome many 

 deficiencies in the apparatus. 



The net-ring can be made of wire ; brass wire, of spring tem- 

 per, is best, as it can be reinforced or strengthened by soldering 

 on a stiffening near the handle ; this reinforce should be first fast- 

 ened to the ring-wire by wrapping with brass or copper wire of 

 thread-like size, and then soldering the whole together. The ring 

 should be in diameter about 12 or 15 inches : smaller for Lycccnas 

 and other small species of gentle flight, and larger, up to 20 in- 

 ches, for large and wide-flying species that have to be taken on the 

 wing, like most Papilios. 



The net may be made of mosquito-bar, but is not satisfactory, 

 and lasts but a short time. Wash-blonde, a wide-woven, lace-like 

 goods of finer texture and a cell-like mesh, gives best satisfaction, 

 and is reliable, and will wear a long time. Make the net deep, 

 or long enough to securely retain the butterflies when they are 

 once caught, say, two feet deep for a small net, and three feet 

 deep for a large one, or about twice as long as the ring is wide. 

 Do not run the net down to a point at the bottom, like a V, but 

 rather let it have the shape of a U, and make it large enough at 

 the top that it may gather, or pucker a little as it is sewed on to 

 the ring, because it soon stretches with use, and if not gathered 



