80 WORK AT HOME AND IN THE FIELD 



require, then you must run for it, but you will probably be satisfied 

 with only a few chases of this kind, particularly if the sun is very 

 hot, and the ground diversified with clumps of furze, heather, 

 ' molehills,' and ditches. 



There are times when your only plan of netting" a butterfly is 

 to sweep it from a flower or leaf on which it has settled. If the 

 vegetation is very low, you have simply to bring the net down upon 

 it, and then, holding up the apex of the net with the other hand so 

 as to give it room to fly, you can inclose it by grasping the lower 

 part of the net as soon as the butterfly has fluttered upward. If 

 the herbage is tall it is advisable to strike either upward or sideways 

 at the insect, starting it from the leaf or flower on which it rests ; 

 for if you bring down the net you will have to inclose the whole or 

 part of the plant on which the butterfly has settled a procedure 

 that often ends in a torn net, or in the insect becoming damaged 

 through being rubbed against the plant. 



Whenever you capture a butterfly by a sweep of the net 

 through the air, you immediately turn the ring into a horizontal 

 position, so that the bag of the net closes itself as it falls over the 

 edge. This gives you an opportunity of examining the insect before 

 you introduce your killing bottle. This is a very necessary precau- 

 tion, for you are generally unable to judge of the condition of a 

 butterfly while on the wing, and in some cases you cannot even be 

 certain of the species. If, then, you were to call the killing bottle 

 into requisition for every capture you make, you would certainly 

 find yourself taking the life of many an insect that is of no use 

 whatever to you. Always examine your specimens at the moment 

 they have been secured, at least as far as it is possible to do so, by 

 looking through the gauze ; and let your examination be as brief as 

 possible, or some of the butterflies that were at first in splendid 

 condition will render themselves useless to you during their 

 struggles to get away. 



When satisfied that an insect is likely to be of value to you, keep 

 it in the apex of the net by grasping the bag beneath it with the 

 left hand, and then introduce the opened killing bottle with the 

 other hand. As a rule you will experience not the slightest diffi- 

 culty in coaxing it into its trap, and then you quickly cover the 

 mouth of the killing bottle with the gauxe, then apply your left 

 hand, using it as a temporary stopper for a few seconds, and now, 

 the insect having been quieted, replace the cork. 



A good killing bottle is almost instantaneous in its action, not 



