COLLECTING INSECTS. 19 



twelve or fifteen inches in diameter. The ends of the wire 

 should be bent out and soldered into a ferrule which will fit 

 on the end of a cane or other handle. The net proper 

 should be about twenty inches in depth and made of gauze 

 or mosquito netting. It should not be attached directly to 

 the ring, as it would then quickly fray out, but to a piece of 

 strong cotton cloth which in turn is sewed to the ring. Other 

 more elaborate forms are made in which the ring will fold up 

 for convenience in carrying, but the saving hardly repays the 

 additional expense. Those interested will find a good de- 

 scription and figure in Dr. Packard's "Directions for Collect- 

 ing and Preserving Insects, " published by the Smithsonian 

 Institution, page 4, fig. 2, 

 where one or two other 

 forms are also described. 



The net is used princi- 

 pally for collecting the 



strong flying insects (e. g., Butterflies), either on the wing 

 or while at rest. With a swoop the net is brought over the 

 insect, and then, by a dexterous twist, easily acquired but 

 not readily described, the bag is thrown over the ring and 

 the specimen is securely imprisoned. The insect may then 

 either be pinned while in the net or transferred to the 

 cyanide bottle to be described farther on. Lepidoptera may 

 be killed while in the net by giving the thorax a severe pinch, 

 of course taking care that the wings are not injured. 



A shallow scoop net, fig. 5, made in the same manner as 

 the insect net above described is useful for collecting aquatic 



