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first, let rae advise the collector to handle theiti 

 as little as possible, least he should disturb cr 

 destroy the delicate down, to which many of 

 them owe their greatest beauty. Before he pro- 

 ceeds on his search, he .will do well to provide 

 himself with a stock of pins, with which he is 

 to pierce the insects he may catch, and a small 

 box lined with cork, or soft wood. With a pair 

 of gauze forceps he may catch insects when at 

 rest; but if they are on the wing, and within 

 reach, he must use a hand-net, which may be 

 made of any light substance, as a piece of gauze 

 about a yard and a half square, fastened to two 

 pliable sticks or canes, with which it raaj' be 

 made to open or collapse at pleasure. If they 

 are beyond his reach, he must use a casting 

 net, which I have tried with considerable suc- 

 cess. It may be made thus: tie a weight, (a 

 halfipenny for instance), in one of the corners of 

 a piece of gauze, (about the size of a common 

 handkerchief), a sixpence in the second corner, 

 and a bit of very light wood in the third : the 



