FIELD AND FOREST. 5 



statement of our experience, in the form of descriptions of the various 

 styles, may be the means of giving some of our younger entomolog- 

 ical readers one or two new ideas on the subject, we gladly submit it. 



The simplest form is the common gauze net, as represented in Fig. 

 i, and whether it is made of an old barrel-hoop nailed to a broom- 

 gandle, covered with green "mosquito bar" netting, by an indignant 

 agriculturist on the war-path for cabbage butterflies, or, rudely fash- 

 ioned from telegraph-wire and materials at hand, in the field, to re- 

 place a broken net, it is substantially the same thing. It should be of 

 brass wire a little more than an eighth of an inch in thickness, the 

 ends bent at right angles from the ring and together thrust into a 

 tapering socket of tin or brass and there secured ; brass is better than 

 steel because it will not rust. The wire is bound with coarse cotton 

 cloth to prevent wear, and to this the net, of swiss muslin or any other 

 gauze is sewn. A rod of ash five feet long, with an averege thickness 

 of y% of an inch (3<£ at the butt) we have found to be the most conven- 

 ient. 



A few years ago Mr. Glover proposed a double net, shown in Fig. 2, 

 to be used by farmers in collecting noxious insects when in large num- 

 bers on a particular crop, that might be used by entomologists in some 

 kinds of collecting. The bottom of the net is made open, but secured 

 with a string when in use in the same manner that a grain bag is tied. 

 The ring is the same as in the first net, but there is an inner net, fun- 

 nel-shaped, and terminating in a tin tube. The object of the inner 

 apartment is to secure the insects from flight after they have been taken. 

 Such a net might be useful for beetles or plant-bugs, but butterflies 

 and similar insects would not be able to get into the inner chamber on 

 account of their wings. To empty the net, when in use by collectors, 

 the string is untied, the insects shaken into the opposite end, and the 

 desirable species secured. Of course, a farmer would shake the entire 

 contents into hot water at once. 



Fig. 3 represents an English net-frame particularly useful in some 

 cases. The socket, after leaving the handle or rod, branches into two 

 smaller ones, forming a letter Y, which receive stout pieces of some 

 elastic wood, or better, rattan ; a string is then attached to the two 

 ends which are drawn towards each other so as to form the curved sides 

 of the net frame, as represented in our figure, and the net is attached. 

 The advantages are that the square side allows the net to be used 



