COLLECTING APPAKATUS. 5 



them will flow evenly over the whole surface and join them 

 firmly together. Take a Maynard rifle cartridge tube, or othcr 

 brass tube of similar dimensions ; if the former, file off the 

 closed end or perforate it for the admission of the wire, and 

 having tinned it in the same manner on the inside, push a 

 tight fitting cork half-way through and pour into it melted tin . 

 or soft solder, and insert the wires ; if carefully done, you will 

 have a firmly constructed and very durable founda- p . 3 

 tion for a collecting net. The cork being extracted 

 will leave a convenient socket for inserting a stick 

 or walking cane to serve as a handle.' 



" My friend, J. A. Lintner, of Albany, New York, 

 makes very good use, in his ordinary promenades, of 

 a telescopic fish-rod, with a head (Fig. 3) screwed on 

 to one end, in which to fasten an elastic brass coil 

 on which the net is drawn, but which when not in 

 use sets snugly inside his silk hat." (C. V. Riley, 

 Fifth Annual Report Ins. Mo., 1873.) 



The insect should be temporarily held between the 

 thumb and forefinger of the hand at liberty, and then pinned 

 through the thorax while in the net. The pin can be drawn 

 through the meshes upon opening the net. The beating-net 

 should be made much stouter, with a shallower cloth bag and 

 attached to a shorter stick. It is used for beating trees, 

 bushes, and herbage for beetles and Hemiptera and various 

 larvae. Its thorough use we would recommend in the low veg- 

 etation on mountains and in meadows. 

 The water-net may be either round or of 

 the shape indicated in Fig. 4. The ring 

 should be made of brass,. and the shallow 

 net of grasscloth or coarse millinet. It 

 is used for collecting aquatic insects. 



Various sorts of forceps are indispensable for handling 

 insects. Small delicate narrow-bladed forceps, with fine sharp 

 points, such as are used by jewellers, and made either of steel 

 or brass, are excellent for handling minute specimens. For 

 larger ones long, curved forceps (Fig. 5, after Riley) are very 

 convenient. For pinning insects into boxes the forceps should 

 be stout, the blades blunt and curved at the end so that the 

 insects can be pinned without slanting the forceps much. The 



