CHAPTER TWO 



HOW TO EQUIP ONESELF FOR COLLECTING INSECTS 



HOW TO IMPROVISE BOTTLES FOR ALCOHOLIC SPECIMENS 



HOW TO HAVE POISON BOTTLES MADE 



HOW TO MAKE DRYING BOARDS AND SPECIMEN BOXES 



HOW TO MAKE BUTTERFLY NETS AND HOW TO USE THEM 



There is no doubt, boys, that you are of great 

 importance on this earth, and in all my writings 

 and in all my talks I have taken pains to show how 

 important you are. But do not be conceited; if 

 there is any danger of you thinking you are " IT," 

 to use another one of your expressions, you have 

 " another think coming," for you are only living 

 on this earth by permission of the birds. If all the 

 birds were killed, the insects would eat up every- 

 thing in sight, they would devour the forests, and 

 the world w^ould be an uninhabitable desert. 



It is an exceedingly dangerous thing to upset 

 the balance of nature or, as my good friend Doctor 

 Hornaday puts it, *' to monkey with nature's buzz- 

 saw." Bugs, butterflies and beetles are a busy 

 lot, they need watching, they are mischievous little 

 gnomes, but the Great Creator supplied the earth 



with birds to keep these little insect fairies in sub- 

 so 



